


star by star by star

by beastofthesky



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It, Friendship, M/M, On the Run, Slow Burn, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-05-05 03:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 43,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14608728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beastofthesky/pseuds/beastofthesky
Summary: It happens like this: Sasuke is fifteen years old when he kills a man wearing snakeskin and upends an entire underworld. He is sixteen years old when he’s realized he doesn’t have to remind Team Hebi anymore to incapacitate, not kill. He is seventeen years old, almost eighteen, when he defeats Deidara of the Akatsuki, and when Kisame steps aside to let him approach his brother.





	1. i. eighteen hours and forty-six minutes after the death of uchiha itachi

**Author's Note:**

> title comes from [destiny](http://www.ishtar-collective.net/cards/xxvi-star-by-star-by-star#books-of-sorrow), because i can't help myself ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up for discussions of grief this chapter!

It happens like this: Sasuke is fifteen years old when he kills a man wearing snakeskin and upends an entire underworld. He is sixteen years old when he’s realized he doesn’t have to remind Team Hebi anymore to incapacitate, not kill. He is seventeen years old, almost eighteen, when he defeats Deidara of the Akatsuki, and when Kisame steps aside to let him approach his brother.

It happens like this: Naruto is sixteen years old when he loses his mentor, and when he is given the key to a gate he had always thought should never be opened. He is seventeen years old when his home is destroyed, when he talks sense into a man who has been governed by despair for far too long.

It happens like this: Kakashi is far too young when he meets his father at the boundary between places, and he feels far too old when he is pulled back away. He sets this aside for another time as Naruto calls together Team 7 and Team 8 and Yamato because Pain-whose-name-was-Nagato told him Akatsuki is mobilizing, and Itachi will be in the open, and, and, and—— Kakashi reads between the lines.

Most importantly, it happens like this: Naruto gets to Sasuke at the same time Tobi does.

 

* * *

 

It’s a small, low room, barely anything more than a cave, and the rock walls get a plus in Karin’s book for barely cracking under the weight of Jūgo’s punches. She darts in under a swinging arm, the whistle of Kubikiribōchō, and _there_ , on that table, a glass jar with eyes suspended in fluid. Definitely a taunt. Ostensibly sanitary. Fucking charlatan.

She redoubles her efforts in masking her chakra and tucks the jar into her pack, sliding silently under the table as Jūgo roars again and Suigetsu yells and– and there’s that chakra again, the one that drew them here in the first place. Like sunlight set on fire. Karin hastily readjusts her glasses just in time to see as a massive wind release jutsu she’s unfamiliar with tears through the cave, and that Tobi guy’s chakra blinks out— only to reappear seconds later elsewhere.

Oh, she doesn’t like that. Karin narrows her eyes.

“The rats have come crawling out,” Tobi sneers. (That’s odd. Where’s the timid childishness they saw the last time they ran into him?) He stands at the opposite end of the room. “Fine, then. Lick your wounds. And when he wants his questions answered—” Tobi tips his head towards the scrambled, weak pile of chakra that comprises Sasuke right now. “Tell him I’m waiting.”

The air splits around him like a wound and he disappears.

The room is silent except for their ragged breaths.

To say that Karin has questions is the understatement of the year. He’d been taunting whoever that other person is when they’d showed up, something about Konoha’s dirty hands and Itachi and cover-ups, but she’ll have to ask later.

“Jūgo,” Suigetsu says quietly, breaking the silence, and reaches out to touch Jūgo’s shuddering form before throwing a look back at Karin and then over at– at sunlight inferno.

Karin steps out from her corner. Unfamiliar eyes — piercing — snap to her immediately at the movement, and for a moment that inferno surges, red flickering at the edges of her vision, and she feels _intent_ like a tangible thing.

Okay: refocus. Assess. Sasuke’s been restrained; he’s still injured, so he’s not been restrained particularly tightly, but judging by the tattered chains and burnt-through sealing papers, the other person had been more of a threat. Which rubs her wrong, a bit, because Sasuke should _always_ be considered a threat, he should never be considered anything other than _the_ threat and no she is _not_ biased, but— this mysterious other captive certainly is strong, judging from the way he was slinging chakra around at Tobi. And there’s something deep in there, too, that Karin can’t quite put her finger on.

But most importantly — the only reason she hasn’t made a move, the same reason Suigetsu has started to bring Jūgo down — this person is standing in front of Sasuke’s slumped, unconscious form, feet planted firmly in spite of the blood dripping steadily to the ground. Defensive. Everything in those eyes screams _to the last breath_.

...which might be literal, judging by that pale face and the shallow breaths.

“Jūgo, help this guy,” Karin says, making an executive decision, and she rolls up her sleeves. “I’ve got Sasuke.”

  

* * *

 

It’s the next day when Sasuke wakes up, or so he thinks. Vaguely, he remembers— no no no, not that, not right now— he remembers… a familiar wash of chakra over his injuries. Karin. Hebi— no, that won’t do anymore.

And then there’s—

Sasuke cracks his eyes open and blinks away the blurred sleep in his vision to meet Naruto’s steady, fierce gaze. Piercing.

“Don’t,” Sasuke croaks, mouth and throat dry.

“What?”

“Whatever it is you’re about to do, or say. _Don’t_.”

Naruto smiles at this, but it’s sad and wan and looks utterly out of place against Sasuke’s memories.

“I’m sorry, Sasuke,” he says, and Sasuke immediately closes his eyes again as empty grief wracks him, and he feels an involuntary shudder crawl down his spine. “Hey. I am.” A hand comes to rest on his shoulder, warm where it’s touching skin and not bandages. “And I’m not leaving you to deal with this alone. Your teammates aren’t, either. And besides—” A pause. Sasuke opens his eyes again. Naruto is staring ahead, eyes unfocused. “What that guy said. Madara, or whatever.” Anger stirs in Sasuke’s gut this time, coiling through him. “That’s fucked up. And I think— I think it’s true. Or at least, part of it.”

Oh.

It’s been years since they were teammates, years since they even _saw_ each other last, but Sasuke knows that voice. That’s Naruto’s _it’s fucked and I’m going to fix it_ voice.

Sasuke closes his eyes, and does his best to not think about how in all the hurt he’s feeling, there’s an ache that tells him exactly how much he missed his best friend.

 

* * *

 

Two days later, Sasuke has run out of energy to continue convincing Naruto to leave.

(Then again, Sasuke should have considered that particular battle lost the second Naruto introduced himself. The broken, hopeful look on Karin’s face when she’d realized— he doesn’t want to think about it. It’s a better use of his energy to start trying to accept that Naruto has wrestled himself back into Sasuke’s life, against all odds.)

Of course, as his luck would have it, this is also the day that a clone of one Hatake Kakashi finds success in its comb of the forest, and the ensuing shitshow — Karin panicking, Suigetsu making some fucking show with Kubikiribōchō in front of the man who killed Momochi Zabuza, even though Sasuke has _told that story more than once_ and Kakashi is not the one who killed him — is enough for Sasuke to give in to his exhaustion and give up entirely on consciousness.

 

 

When he wakes up again, the dust has settled, more or less. Karin’s hackles are still up; Suigetsu is looking decidedly sour. Jūgo has a badger in his lap and two sparrows on his shoulders. Sasuke sighs.

“Good morning,” Kakashi says, with marked amusement. Sasuke spares him a glance.

“What are you doing here?”

“Tracking a Konoha ninja who went missing on a recon mission,” Kakashi replies easily, and shifts to rest his chin in his hand. “It’s good to see you, Sasuke. I’ll spare you the false pleasantries; I can’t understand how you’re feeling right now. But you have my condolences, if you’d like to accept them.”

Sasuke looks away.

He tunes out for the rest of the conversation; they’re trying to catch Sasuke up to speed on what he’d missed in terms of information exchange in the hour he’d slept, but it’s easy to tune out the way that Kakashi’s and Naruto’s voices weave over one another, and instead Sasuke focuses on keeping his mind blank until he registers a change in the charge of the conversation, a hitch that means something is coming.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto starts, and then pauses. His eyes flicker over to Sasuke again, then back. “What do you know about a guy named Danzō?”

Kakashi gives no outward reaction other than a thoughtful frown, but his attention sharpens like a knife-point.

“Shimura Danzō? A contemporary of the Sandaime. Why do you ask?”

Right. Kakashi knows something. Kakashi likely knows more than just _something._

“He's the one who ordered Itachi to kill the clan,” Sasuke says bluntly, before Naruto can try to be sensitive about it.

It’s with vicious satisfaction that Sasuke watches Kakashi’s aloof mask crack as he processes this information.

For a full sixty seconds, Kakashi does not move. And then, finally, he closes his eye, takes a slow breath, and the mask settles back into place.

“Danzō was head of a secret Anbu division called Root for years. They were disbanded around the same time as the massacre, but I never… I didn’t think anything of it.”

Sasuke looks over to find Naruto already staring at him, and when their eyes meet, Sasuke, strangely enough, feels something tightly coiled within him loosen. Just slightly.

“Naruto,” Kakashi continues, voice low and serious, “I need you to listen to me very closely right now. _You cannot return to Konoha right now_.”

Naruto looks like he’s been punched in the throat.

“What?”

Sounds like it, too.

“Tsunade is still in a coma. The elders declared a need for an interim Hokage, likely to succeed to be the Sixth.” Kakashi closes his eyes. Sasuke knows what’s coming. “It’s Danzō. I’ve got reason to believe he might have influenced that choice somehow. You flexed a lot of power during Pain’s attack, Naruto. If there’s one thing I know about Danzō, it’s that he’ll want to leash that power.”

Naruto’s hand curls over his stomach, a reflexive, subconscious gesture. Sasuke files away several questions to ask Naruto later. Pain, Tsunade, attack.

“Is Granny…” Naruto can’t quite meet Kakashi’s eye.

“She’s stable,” Kakashi tells him, voice unusually gentle. “Shizune and Sakura are sure she’ll be coming to eventually, but they’re not sure when. The Fifth used almost all of the chakra she’d had stored, so it’s likely to be a few months.”

The ghost of a smile flickers across Naruto’s face.

“Guess Jiraiya really is intent on her not chasing after him, huh,” he mumbles.

Kakashi softens even more, and gently rests a hand atop Naruto’s hair, and… well, Sasuke never really had the chance to see what grief looks like when Naruto wears it, but he knows that’s what this is. Tentatively, another question to ask later. Perhaps.

Well. At least with this information, Naruto’s behavior is making more and more sense.

“Anyways,” Naruto goes on, audibly wrenching himself back into one piece, “if I can’t go back to Konoha… then what?”

Kakashi’s attention flicks over to Sasuke, and then back.

“Well, Naruto, you’ve got a lot of friends in a lot of places,” he says, and his visible eye is bright with mischief. So, Kakashi has given this some thought. Sasuke reviews everything Kakashi had shared, about Danzō’s men intercepting the cell, how upset and worried everyone had been, and— _ah._ His old teacher is just as crafty as ever, it would seem. “If you were to, say, chase after your friend, or spend more time training at Mount Myōboku, that would be understandable. Grief can be a funny thing. Though, of course, it’s best you stay with people you who can help protect you, rather than going it alone. I’ve got no doubt Root will be after you.”

“We can protect Naruto,” Sasuke interrupts. Judging by the way every head in the room turns, he’s surprised everyone. Himself included. “Danzō won’t touch anyone else.”

Kakashi’s gaze is carefully mild.

“I was thinking of another person who’d understand Naruto’s position and predicament,” Kakashi says, “but if Naruto trusts you with his life—”

“Of _course_ I do, Sasuke’s my frie—”

“Even though I tried to kill you last time we saw each other?”

A ringing beat of silence.

“I— _yes!_ ” Naruto’s air of angry righteousness is the same as ever. “Things change! You– you did what you– meant to do. And things are different now. I might not have trusted all your dumb ideas, but I still trust _you_.”

Sasuke meets Naruto’s eyes, and something flickers to life deep within his chest.

Naruto turns back to Kakashi after leveling Sasuke with one more affronted glare.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“That you’ve got another friend who knows what you’re dealing with,” Kakashi repeats, and that cheeky fake cheer is starting to edge into his voice. “What it’s like to be weaponized and manipulated by your village.” Ah. Gaara. Sasuke knows the Ichibi was extracted and that the Kazekage survived somehow, but he has no details. It figures that Naruto was involved somehow. Naruto, on that note, is frowning, still uncomprehending. “A jinchūriki,” Kakashi prompts.

“Gaara?” There’s a mix of emotion on Naruto’s face, now, tinged overwhelmingly with worry.

“Danzō has ties to Akatsuki. At this point I’d say it’s safe to assume that either he’s pulling the strings, or he wants to be.” Kakashi raises his eyebrow pointedly. “Suna is an ally of Konoha’s, and Gaara was a jinchūriki. He has a right to know, and I know he’d prioritize the safety of a fellow jinchūriki.”

“We’ll accompany you to Suna,” Sasuke says, looking at Naruto. “We can protect you. Karin’ll be able to tell if someone’s trailing us. Jūgo can scout using wildlife. Suigetsu is a skilled swordsman. We’ve stayed under the radar for this long as a four-man cell, one more person won't make a difference.”

He turns the thought over in his head, tests its weight and shape. The past however-many hours — days — have been nothing but _numb_ , the nebulous idea of future or forward something simply incomprehensible. But this is a task; a simple task, if perhaps not an _easy_ one, with a start and an end.

Something like wonder is starting to grow in Naruto’s eyes.

“If—” Sasuke takes a deep breath, and continues. “If my brother did what he did to protect me and protect Konoha, if he recognized what Danzō is, I won’t let that go to waste.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i've never actually done this kind of thing - that is to say, i've never started posting a multi-chapter fic without having all (or even most) of it written, and also while being entirely unsure of how i want to get across what it is i've got in mind. this started off as a just-for-shits what-if that grew into an extremely long series of bullet points (15 pages!) covering a ridiculous amount of angles, and for now, the plan is to just fill in gaps on that skeleton however they come to me. the premise of this au is simple: if sasuke hadn't been manipulated by tobi at such a crucial moment of emotional vulnerability, _so much_ of what happens in shippuden would have been SO incredibly different, and i'm a glutton for a what-if of this scope.
> 
> updates are likely to be irregular, so i'm sorry in advance, but this is something i'd love to keep working on and picking at so hopefully they won't be too sporadic. feedback is much appreciated! as is pointing out typos.


	2. ii. two months, three days after the death of uchiha itachi

Sakura’s heart stops dead in her chest. Sure, she’s known for weeks now where Naruto is and who he’s with, what exactly happened that day; she’d known exactly what she’s walking into, but the sight that greets her is still nothing short of astounding.

Sasuke and Naruto. In one room. At ease.

All of a sudden, she doesn’t know if she’s going to cry or when her lungs will start working again and she’s got half a mind to whirl around and look at Temari and ask, _are you seeing this shit too?_ because they’re right there, five feet away, and it feels like a dream.

Naruto is the first to turn, eyes wide.

“Sakura!” he exclaims, and grins brightly before his expression dims to one of slight guilt. “Uh, I’m sorry about, you know. Deserting? I guess?”

“Oh, Naruto,” Sakura manages, and then steps forward to pull him into a hug. She tries to not make it a crushing one. “It’s good to see you.”

Naruto hugs her back a little more tightly than normal. Here’s the thing: Naruto is one of her best friends, and she can read him like the open book he is. Something is bothering him. She doesn’t know yet if it has to do with present company, but— knowing Naruto, he’ll come out with it eventually.

She gently pulls away and pats Naruto’s shoulder before steeling herself and turning to the other member of Team Seven.

Sasuke looks— well, he doesn’t look great, there are tired lines around his eyes and deep-seated tension in his shoulders, but he doesn’t look like he did last time. Blank, inhuman, eyes flat. He looks _alive,_ leaning against a doorway with fluid ease, and not like the stiff thing they’d seen at Orochimaru’s hideout. More than anything, though, he looks… hurting. About what’s to be expected, she supposes.

“Sasuke,” she says evenly, “it’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Thanks,” he replies, somewhere between gruff and dry. He tips his head back towards the three other people in the room. “This is Team Taka.”

“Jūgo,” says the tall man, and he nods politely. Sakura nods back. He’s got something small in the crook of his elbow, and Sakura can’t quite tell whether it’s a dog of some sort or not, but it occurs to her then that she doesn’t actually know much about Sasuke’s team. Jūgo might be from a clan like the Kiba’s, if he’s close with animals. Either way, he’s got an air of meditative calm around him, an easiness to his movements that seems hard-won and well-practiced.

“Suigetsu,” says the next person, giving her a cheeky, lazy salute accompanied by an extremely sharp-toothed grin. Sakura is about to reply when she notices the sword slung across his shoulders, and starts.

“Is that—?” She turns to Naruto in surprise, and glances between him and the sword.

“Zabuza’s,” Suigetsu answers, before Naruto can. That sharp grin widens.

“Don’t show off,” the last person snaps, and then looks at Sakura briefly before her eyes flick away. “I’m Karin. I keep these three idiots from bleeding out.” Suigetsu makes a noise of protest. “I’m sorry, _four_ ,” she amends, and narrows her eyes in Naruto’s direction.

It’s Naruto’s turn to protest – familiar, and Sakura aches with it, because she’s missed him so much in the two-ish months he’s been gone so far – and takes a few seconds to surreptitiously take a better look at Karin.

Purely for informational purposes.

She’s taller than Sakura, but not by too much, though that isn’t what draws Sakura’s attention first. Karin’s hair is a bright, luminous red, almost iridescent as it catches the light of the setting sun, sliding smooth like silk over her shoulders as she turns her head. Her eyes are dark behind her glasses – Sakura can’t quite catch the color – and then Suigetsu mutters something Sakura doesn’t hear but that makes Karin flush a dull red.

“A medic?” Sakura asks, recognizing a person clearly in need of rescue from a conversation. In any case, there’s always something to be learned from a fellow professional.

“I… yeah, something like that,” Karin replies, meeting her eyes only briefly again. Okay, misstep. Sakura mentally backtracks and prepares to try again, but—

“You’re skilled with medical ninjutsu.” Sakura turns in surprise. Sasuke delivers the compliment so evenly, so matter-of-factly, as if it’s no big deal that Sakura could count on one hand the amount of time she heard him say _anything_ positive during their time as genin. “You’re a good medic. No need to be humble.”

“Yeah,” Naruto adds hotly, “you’re awesome, Karin.”

“I– that’s– _anyways_ —" Karin turns away, bright red now, and biting back a smile. “You must be Sakura.”

“That’s me,” Sakura says, and hopes her struggle to put words together isn’t showing.

Behind her, Naruto opens his mouth, clearly still ready to fight in defense of Karin, and then— Sakura very nearly pinches herself.

Sasuke gives Naruto a _look_ , the kind he used to give, the kind that says _shut the hell up, not right now_ , and the thing is, the fucking thing is, Naruto deflates under that look, crossing his arms, and he lets the matter slide with a pointed glare at Sasuke.

Sakura doesn’t know what to do with this. There’s a part of her that’s wondering what kind of parallel universe she’s walked into, that Naruto and Sasuke are here and together and things are working their way back to normal between them, that things lined up this way.

But honestly? Hell. She’ll take this. She’ll take anything she can get here, and this is more than anything she could have hoped for in her wildest dreams.

 

* * *

 

Sakura wishes she could stay in Suna longer. Frankly, she wishes she could join Naruto and Sasuke and Taka and feel invincible again, like they were so many years ago.

Nothing has felt real since Pain’s assault on Konoha, not really, and Konoha doesn’t feel like itself, filled with construction and sorely lacking Naruto. And being under Danzō’s thumb — it feels so liberating to be out of the village, and it _hurts_ that it’s a relief to not be home. No more having to watch every breath she takes to not let anything slip to the madman running their village.

(At least, she thinks, he had the sense to accept Suna’s invitation. Rejecting their offer of a short, friendly exchange of diplomats to lay ground for a more long-term alliance would have been the peak of foolishness.)

It settles something in her, to see Naruto again with her own two eyes, to know beyond a doubt that he’s alright. Suna suits him, she thinks. Something about the hot wind that’s still blowing at dusk, the vastness of the sky, warm sand and scrubland spreading to the horizon.

And Sasuke— it’s so surreal to watch him flow easily between butting heads with Team Taka to settling a squabble between them. Like watching something that’s risen from ashes. He’s certainly not the angry, cold child she knew in the Academy, and he’s not the kid who learned how to throw himself into harm’s way for his teammates before everything crumbled, but something _more_ , something that’s finally starting to become whole again.

She can’t help but worry, though. Always. And especially now.

“What’s up?” Naruto’s voice interrupts her thoughts. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yes,” she replies, startled. “Uh, yeah.”

“Are you okay? Did something happen in Konoha?” Naruto steps closer, and Sakura can see the cold concern flooding his eyes.

“No, no, everything’s okay,” she says, and reaches out to squeeze his shoulder. “Konoha is fine. Tsunade is…” She hesitates. “She’s stable. Which is good.”

“Oh,” Naruto mumbles. “That’s— good.”

“I needed to talk to you about something else, actually,” Sakura says, and steels herself. “Yamato is worried about you.”

“Psh!” Naruto rolls his eyes and grins, a gallant attempt to wipe away his lingering concern. “I can take care of myself just fine, you know.”

“I know you can,” Sakura replies, smiling. “But— he means, in the sense of, um, the Kyūbi.”

Naruto’s face falls immediately, and Sakura’s heart breaks a little.

“It’s been alright, so far,” Naruto says, and he looks away, out through the open window. “And I think if something happened—” He pauses. “Well, Sasuke’s here, you know? And Gaara, and everyone else. And yeah, I wish Yamato was too, ‘cause I really don’t want something to happen. But Sasuke can stop the Kyūbi.”

There’s something there. Something Naruto isn’t saying, something that doesn’t seem like it’s bothering him, but there’s something visibly pulling at his thoughts. Sakura reaches out and gently wraps her hand around Naruto’s wrist.

She’s not going to pry. There’s a lot that she’s had to read between the lines where her favorite idiots are concerned, and she’s gotten skilled at it. News about Danzō’s shady past and old connections to Akatsuki coming at the same time as Itachi’s death — it’s all interconnected, and she’s not an idiot. She’d put good money on Danzō having been involved with the Uchiha massacre, at the _very_ least having known it was going to happen, and likely – horrifyingly – spurring Sasuke’s brother to do it.

It’s an awful truth to try and wrestle with. She can’t imagine what kind of place Sasuke must be in. For all the he looks alright— well. That means nothing. And coupled with Naruto’s hesitation? Sakura would argue that being worried is the least she can do.

“Do you trust him?” Sakura tries to not let her hand shake.

“With my life,” Naruto tells her, quietly, solemnly, and that intensity never fails to surprise her. Never.

“But do you trust him with the Kyūbi’s?” she presses.

“One and the same,” Naruto replies. His smile is tired at the edges.

“Naruto, I—”

“I _know_ you’re worried,” he interrupts, “I _know_ , I know, okay?” He puts his hand over Sakura’s and squeezes. “But we’ll all be okay. We’re gonna do this, we’ll find a way to kick Danzō’s ass and come home and fix all of this.”

Sakura’s never had reason to not believe him before. She sure as hell isn’t going to start now.

“Okay,” she says, and smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will likely come quick on the heels of this one – it'll be quite different, but i'll talk about it more (and about this fic in general) when i get there. thank you for all the kind and encouraging comments on the previous chapter!! :')
> 
> eta: super absolutely forgot to link this – if you'd like to know what everyone's sizzlin #looks are in this AU i've got alt outfits + thoughts on them [here](https://glassedplanets.tumblr.com/post/173885933678/this-is-half-a-repost-but-also-i-never-post-all)!


	3. iii. the nine or so months after the death of uchiha itachi

Here’s what Naruto feels:

Not being able to go back to Konoha may well be slowly killing him. It hurts to know that someone like Danzō is in power, and it hurts that he can’t support his friends in the way he’s always done; he needs to play the long con now, which has never been his forte, and it _stings_. The presence of his friends, of Gaara and of Sasuke and even of Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu now, is like a balm, but it’s not quite enough to soothe the burn of a pyrrhic victory.

He hasn’t brought Sasuke back yet. He hasn’t fulfilled his promise to Sakura, or to himself. And even if he and Sasuke and Taka did return to Konoha, the current circumstances are so unsavory that Naruto would never consider the job done until Danzō has been exposed.

 

* * *

 

This is what Sasuke thinks:

He has finally killed Itachi, as had been his goal for years, and now – especially in light of these revelations – he feels aimless, helpless. The idea of revenge floats through his mind every so often, but it’s overridden by blank disgust and a sensation of overload paralysis that tastes all too much like apathy.

(He was never supposed to come out of that fight alive. Now that he has, he doesn’t know what to do. All his life, he’d only ever planned up to Itachi’s death. Now, the space afterwards looms, terrifying in scope.)

Naruto still works to protect his village – from Danzō, from the Akatsuki, from everything – even though he can’t return right now and it's hurting him, palpably. It’s a little too close to Danzō’s tale of Itachi, of a man who drowned himself in misery and exiled himself to protect his home. Once Sasuke makes this realization, he has absolutely no idea what to do with it.

But more than anything, Sasuke feels aimless. He feels a kind of horrified disgust at the idea of helping Konoha – Konoha, who _did this_ to him and to Itachi and to his clan – and yet he’s done the one thing that his entire life was supposed to lead up to, and now he’s just— _here_.

Sure, the idea of getting back at Konoha somehow is one that he can’t quite shake, but to that end, what _is_ the Konoha that Itachi wanted to preserve and protect, that he went to such extreme lengths for? The village as it is, with all of its awfulness swept under the rug? An ideal vision of the village, as it should be, pristine and gleaming? The spirit of the village, of unity, the Will of Fire, carried in its inhabitants?

Thoughts drift to Naruto. ( _As always._ ) For the immediate future, it makes sense to stick with him. Sasuke wants to get to the bottom of what happened and so does Naruto. Madara is not trustworthy; Naruto is a connection to more information, and to sources close to Danzō himself.

...And, well, Naruto really is (deliberately or not) carrying on Itachi’s legacy, protecting the village the way he is.

Yes, for the time being, it does make sense to stick with Naruto.

 

* * *

 

This is the information they have, once they’ve pooled everything together:

Sasuke knows, in his gut, that parts of what Madara told them was true; there are facts that line up indisputably. However, he's also sure that Madara’s end goal was to manipulate him while he was vulnerable.

Naruto shares what Nagato told him: that Danzō sent a force of black ops shinobi – Root, without a doubt – to Amegakure, to wipe out the original Akatsuki organization, in exchange for Hanzō’s aid in becoming Hokage. Not his first such bid for the position, nor his last.

The holes begin to appear when they look at the Kyūbi attack at Naruto’s birth. Madara claims it was spontaneous, an act of nature. Itachi told Sasuke that Madara was the one who caused it. The ghost of Minato, locked away in Naruto’s seal, said that the Kyūbi’s attack was caused by a masked man from Akatsuki. Neither Itachi nor Minato had reason to lie. Madara did.

(And the Kyūbi, Sasuke thinks, but doesn’t share. The Kyūbi said something about Madara, too.)

Danzō and Madara are both irrefutably connected to the Uchiha Massacre, and what with Nagato’s information – he had no reason to lie, not to Naruto – it’s possible Danzō’s influence extends to Akatsuki as well. Especially given that Karin remembers seeing Danzō’s name in an extremely old set of Orochimaru’s notes, a sheaf of papers that predated even his time as a member of Akatsuki.

All in all, it’s not much information to go on. The difference it makes, though, is monumental.

 

* * *

 

What happens is this:

Gaara calls for a steady rotation of squads from Konoha to visit Suna, and vice versa, in the name of strengthening ties. What he’s actually doing is creating a pipeline of steady information between Naruto and Taka and the rest of Konoha, with the risk of intercepted messages or murdered messengers carrying the threat of destroyed diplomatic relations.

Danzō issues orders for all Konoha ninja to capture Sasuke on sight, and bring him back to Konoha in any state. There are similar standing orders for all Konoha ninja to ask Naruto to come home — but nothing stronger than that. Yet.

Akatsuki continues working towards its goal of collecting tailed beasts. Kakashi sends word that a squad arrived in Konoha from Kumo shortly after Naruto’s departure, who bring a diplomatic request from the Raikage to share info on Akatsuki and specifically on Kisame, since there was a skirmish involving him in Konoha territory some years ago. A beloved Kumogakure ninja, the squad’s former teacher and a jinchūriki, has been killed by Kisame, and they want revenge.

During their first visit to Suna, Sai reveals the seal on their tongue as Taka and Naruto ask them what they know about Danzō. Sai explains that they are quite literally incapable of talking about Danzō. This is marked down as another sign of Danzō’s guilt, a tally slowly approaching a number that can’t be anything other than irrefutable.

Some time after Sai returns from Suna, Danzō orders them to search for Naruto – alongside other Root squads and solo members doing the same – and “support” him for about a month, with orders to spy on him, find out what he knows, and eventually bring him back to Konoha. Sai does none of these things, and returns to tell Danzō that Naruto has spent the last several months training at Mount Myōboku, working through the grief of losing Jiraiya and of having Sasuke slip through his fingers yet again. Naruto is both safe and perfectly accessible “at Mount Myōboku” if the village should need him, of course, so Danzō can’t contrive a reason to bring him back to the village until there’s a threat. Sai returns to the pool of shinobi rotating in and out of Suna, with standing orders to report on every move Konoha’s ally makes.

The Konoha 11 — the 10? — collectively give Danzō absolute hell.

Hinata and Neji create an impenetrable impasse and political kerfuffle by choosing this time to try to unite Branch House and Main House, and do away with that nonsense. The Hyūga clan is constantly so worked up about this that they take an exceptionally long amount of time to look over any political moves Danzō makes.

The Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans use their weight to make any of Danzō’s moves – budgeting changes, reallocation of forces, movement and reassessment of Anbu and Interrogation records – using tactics ranging from disruptively bickering during council meetings to flat-out refusing to follow orders when sent out for patrols masquerading as search parties.

In spite of this, Danzō eventually succeeds in labeling Sasuke a defector and a criminal, and calls for all five shinobi nations to capture him and anyone he’s traveling with, a very thinly veiled call for his head. He knows that Naruto would return to Konoha instantly at the news of Sasuke’s capture. And if – by whatever chance – Naruto is traveling with Sasuke, it’ll be a neat, clean way to obtain the jinchūriki, as well.

With Sasuke’s agreement, Sakura, Hinata, and Shikamaru steal records from the Hokage’s office detailing the Uchiha massacre, and deliver them to Sasuke respectfully unopened. (Tsunade’s access to anything was never actually revoked. Sakura got a little creative with things, since no one would ever suspect the charming but bland star student of the Fifth Hokage. Particularly not a man like Danzō, who finds Sakura – a child of civilians with no special talents, no unusual affinities – completely worthless to him.) The records confirm what Madara had told them, though the report seems to have been heavily edited and redacted by a hand other than Sarutobi’s.

 

* * *

  

This is what Sasuke eventually realizes:

In his quest for power to kill Itachi, he did everything alone, used people who were momentarily convenient with the intent to discard them. Itachi did things alone, too, shouldered everything alone, and maybe if things had been different, if people had been willing to make changes, work with each other, Itachi wouldn't have ended up like that. And this Danzō character wanted to drive the village apart, pit the Uchiha against the city, sow chaos and divide to conquer. But — wasn't Kakashi’s first lesson to them the value of teamwork? And wouldn't it be a sweet, sweet fuck-you to everyone who doubted the Uchiha, that he's cooperating, helping the village, helping Konoha's hero? _Together_ , he thinks, has a good ring to it.

(And at the end of the day, it's recognition of mutual loneliness that drew him and Naruto to each other, and there is always a part of Sasuke that strives to fill that hole.)

(Whatever he’s doing now, he’s in a position to sever all ties to his identity as it was previously. He doesn’t have to be Itachi’s brother, or the Uchiha survivor; those were identities constructed for him by other people. When he was with Team 7, he was himself — he was Naruto’s and Sakura’s teammate, Kakashi’s student, the one who took a killing blow for Naruto on the bridge, the one whom Sakura fought to protect from Shukaku. And truly, he’d never felt more powerful than during that fight, stepping in front of Naruto and Sakura to face down Shukaku. Deciding that he’s finished losing the people who are precious to him.)

(And isn’t it ironic how later he’d realize that he’d panicked in response to news of Itachi, not for his sake, not for the sake of missing an opportunity to kill him, but for the sake of Naruto’s safety? And yet, drunk on the power the curse seal had given him and full of rage and grief rubbed raw again, he’d made the resolution to cut ties and leave. And perhaps deep down, it was the fact that he didn’t have the power to protect his friend that drove him as much as the need for revenge.)

(Now, he can… perhaps not support Konoha – he’s not ready for that quite yet – but he can support his friend. They can lean on each other to get to the bottom of this.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! while this chapter may not be long, it's a big one. i'm trying something new with this fic: because i tend to write things completely out of order, i've planned this fic out to have a set number of anchor points that are spans of time that aren't specifically defined by one activity – that way, if (when) i write some slice-of-life bit that i like, i can go back and publish it and it'll have a place it belongs in. this means that in the future i might be shuffling chapters around to maintain chronological order, but to offset that, i've got timestamps as each chapter title (and i'm pretty sure AO3 shows the posting date for a chapter anyways). 
> 
> tl;dr i'll have a few sort of wireframe points like this between plotty chapters because there is a _lot_ to explore with a change as big as "sasuke isn't manipulated to the ninth circle of hell and back" and i want to preemptively give myself the breathing room to work backwards if something comes to me later down the line!


	4. iv. two weeks, one day after the death of uchiha itachi

Sasuke wakes with a start.

The dreams are even worse, now. Somehow, he thinks he should have expected this.

He resolutely keeps his eyes open and focuses on the still-unfamiliar room; the shadows that collect in the corners, the warm stone walls, two windows wide open in hopes of catching a nonexistent breeze. No blood. No ghosts.

Sasuke exhales and wrenches himself jerkily upright, shoves the covers off with shaking hands, and heads for the window. It’s warm outside even in the dead of night, and it shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, but it is. Suna’s climate will take some getting used to. His bare feet find chakra-assisted purchase on the sun-baked walls – still warm from the relentless heat of the day – and he scales the building all the way to its domed roof.

It’s silent save for his own breaths. Sasuke doesn’t know how much time he spends like this, motionless, picking out patterns in clotheslines and power cables. He’s aware of the person who silently sits next to him after some time, but he can’t bring himself to speak.

As it turns out, the warm night and a quiet presence and and a sky full of stars is a not-half-bad way to banish an old nightmare.

Eventually, Gaara breaks the silence.

“I don’t have much wisdom to offer,” he says, and Sasuke nearly smiles because Gaara is barely a year older and yet he manages to sound positively ancient. “But human beings, we’re not binary; not in any way. You don’t have to either love someone or hate them, trust or fear them. You can feel both. Or neither. Or everything. Just because you wake up hating someone one day doesn’t erase the fact that you loved them, and just because you loved someone doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt you deeply. Those things can coexist.” Gaara smiles wanly. “That’s how I came to be, after all. I loved my uncle more than anything, and what he did to me hurt me more than anything. But that doesn’t mean I never loved him.”

Sasuke struggles to swallow past the lump in his throat.

“Just because your brother did everything to protect you doesn’t erase the fact that he murdered your family and left you deeply traumatized. And just because your brother hurt you so irrevocably, it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have loved him. It’s not an easy thing to feel, much less accept. But your friends are here for you, and if you’d like to count me among them, I am as well.”

Sasuke is silent.

Gaara clears his throat.

“Forgive me. I’ve overstepped.”

“No,” Sasuke finally manages. “Thank you.”

Gaara stands anyways, with a quiet rasp of clothes and sand.

“Let’s spar in the morning,” he says. “It’ll do you good to move. And besides— we never really did get that match we were promised at the chūnin exams, did we?”

And with a small smile, he’s gone.

Sasuke doesn’t move until the first rays of dawn light warm him, hours later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> three chapters (incl. this one) incoming! normally i'd put them all in one, but i want to have the freedom to rearrange things if necessary. they're all quite short, totaling up to about ~2k words for the three of them together. next two coming shortly!


	5. v. four weeks, two days after the death of uchiha itachi

“It’s so fucking _dry_ ,” Suigetsu grouses, dropping down next to him with a huff.

“You’ve been saying this for the whole time we’ve been here,” Jūgo points out. “Do something about it, if you’re not acclimatizing.”

Suigetsu scowls and waves his bottle of water before taking a long drink of it.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?”

“Well, why don’t you spend more time in the greenhouses, then?”

“I—” Suigetsu stops, and blinks. “Oh, shit. That _is_ a good idea.”

Jūgo lets the corners of his mouth pull up in a faint smile.

“I have those sometimes.”

Neither Karin nor Suigetsu speak their minds often; Karin out of force of habit, thanks to long years hiding every inch of herself to survive, and Suigetsu mostly because he’s just not very good at it. Sasuke shares his thoughts freely — _if_ the correct questions are asked. Naruto is an open book with little to no filter.

And Jūgo – well, he just doesn’t have much to say. His word has never been worth much to anyone. But between Sasuke and Suigetsu and Karin, between Naruto and Gaara and Temari and Kankuro, he’s finding that talking is something he _does_ enjoy. It’s a matter of picking out needs: Karin needs to talk through empty shells before she can let her actual thoughts through, Suigetsu needs feedback to guide his words, Sasuke needs specificity and support in his overstructured thoughts, and Naruto— Naruto needs nothing but companionship and a willing ear. And for his friends, for everything they’ve done for him, Jūgo is more than willing to provide all of these things.

“So, what d’you think?” Suigetsu draws a kunai and starts scratching a chart into the sand.

Jūgo, obligingly, thinks for a moment. Suigetsu’s drawing a combat bracket; Gaara vs. Naruto, Sasuke vs. Jūgo. Ah, so that’s today’s order for sparring, then. Jūgo slowly stands and starts to stretch.

“About what?”

“Naruto.” Suigetsu squints down at the chart, then takes a long swig of his water.

“Whether he’ll win today?”

“Nah. I mean in general, what d’you think?”

“He’s Sasuke’s polar opposite in every way.” He pauses to rotate his shoulder, muscle straining where he’d pulled it yesterday. “He can make friends with anyone.”

“And poor Sasuke is stuck being friends with us, of all the bastards in the world,” Suigetsu sighs dramatically. “No, but I meant, what do you think of him?”

Jūgo looks down at him, and considers the question.

“I like him. Quite a lot, actually. I think he’s been good for Taka. He’s clever and driven, and he’s got a big heart. It’ll take him places, if he’s got the right people supporting him. Which I think he does.” Jūgo pauses again, and considers again what Suigetsu is asking. “Karin says his chakra feels good, and she’s never been wrong about someone. I think Sasuke appreciates his company much more than he’s letting on.”

“Yeah,” Suigetsu muses, drawing out the word, “I like him too. He’s enough of a little shit to rile Sasuke up, and just that is worth it.”

“I like Gaara too,” Jūgo adds. “Suna in general. It’s calm here.”

Gaara is interesting. Jūgo dislikes being presumptuous, but it’s clear from the way Gaara holds himself, the way he keeps an automatic distance from people, the way he measures his words, that he’s spent a significant part of his life in fear of hurting others. Or, at least, with the capability to do so explosively and with little control. It might be a jinchūriki thing, but seeing as Naruto isn’t like that at all, Jūgo isn’t quite sure.

It’s reassuring, in its own way. That spark of understanding. Knowing that someone else has lived their life as a walking time bomb on an unidentified fuse.

“Hey, Sasuke,” Suigetsu calls, and it pulls Jūgo out of his thoughts. Sasuke is walking towards them, and over his shoulder, Jūgo can see the sand whipping up in a way that means Naruto and Gaara have started their round. “Jūgo and I were just talking about Naruto.”

Sasuke snorts quietly.

“What about him?”

“What d’you think?” Suigetsu asks, waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the whipping sand.

Sasuke looks at Suigetsu with an odd expression on his face, and then turns his gaze back to where Naruto has split himself into a handful of clones in an attempt to surround Gaara. He watches, and doesn’t say anything.

Jūgo thinks that’s quite a fair response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> revised outfits + thoughts for jūgo and suigetsu are (finally) [over here](https://glassedplanets.tumblr.com/post/174426586453/finally-a-suigetsu-and-a-jugo-for-alt-outfits) if you'd like to check that out!


	6. vi. three months, three weeks, six days after the death of uchiha itachi

“Sakura, can I talk to you?”

Karin’s heart is in her throat.

She’s never, _never_ actually had to tell someone about her healing abilities, because that’s what she was in Kusa, the magic wand that healed people, and Orochimaru sought her out because of it, and so did Sasuke, and at that point her reputation preceded her. And even with Naruto, it was different to explain to someone who shares the Uzumaki name and his own curse. He knows what it is to carry a legacy.

“Sure,” Sakura says, brightly, and Karin is once again forced to wonder how it is that all Konoha shinobi are so _luminous._ “What’s up?”

“Uh, well—” God, Karin wishes someone else were here with her. She could use the presence of _someone_ , anyone, who’s better at words than she is. “I… I know you’re a busy person, and you’re not in Suna often, but when you’re here could- would you teach me—? Medical ninjutsu?”

Sakura’s face has the question written all over it that she’s got too much tact to ask outright. So different from Naruto or Taka. It’s refreshing.

“It’s cause— I know _some_ medical ninjutsu, kinda enough to scrape by, but- but it’s mostly—” She takes a deep breath. “I have a- a clan ability.” Oh, she wishes Sasuke were here. He’d be able to just lay this out like sheets of paper on a table. “It’s, um, mostly because I have a lot of chakra. A _lot_. Enough to share, which is the thing. I can let people suck it out of me. But- but I mean, literally.”

Karin pushes up one of her sleeves, and pointedly looks neither at Sakura, nor at the old scars of bite marks littering her forearm.

“Oh,” Sakura says, softly, so softly, and Karin feels a calloused hand close over her wrist. She lets her sleeve fall back down. Sakura is quiet for a beat. “Well, if you’re anything like Naruto, you’ve got lots of stamina. Which is good for medical ninjutsu, which I’m sure you know. This shit really takes it out of you.”

“Yeah,” Karin says weakly. Sakura’s hand is still wrapped carefully around her wrist.

“And before we start—” Sakura pauses, searching. “I’m… not an exceptionally patient person. And I’ve got a temper. And I can be really stubborn. So I—”

“Sakura,” Karin interrupts, “you survived both Naruto _and_ Sasuke when they were thirteen years old, and in my eyes, that makes you divine.”

Oh fuck. She said that. _Out loud_.

Sakura bursts out laughing.

“ _Finally_ someone recognizes my accomplishments,” she says, grinning. “If you want me to, though, I’m happy to teach you. Hell, I’m more than happy to. I—” She pauses. “This whole time, I’ve been worried about whether Naruto’s in good hands. Not that he can’t watch his own back, but– I mean, you’ve met him.”

Karin laughs.

“Zero sense of self-preservation,” she says.

“I love him to death,” Sakura tells her, “but _yes_ , exactly. Anyways, I was worried, but now that I’ve met you, and the others… I’m not that worried anymore.” A small smile creeps its way across Sakura’s face. “Seriously, for taking care of Naruto, _and_ Sasuke, teaching you some medical ninjutsu is the least I could do. And besides, you deserve to know how to heal without getting hurt in the process. You’re a person, not a chakra pill.”

Karin swallows thickly and blinks back the heat prickling in the corners of her eyes.

“Thanks,” she manages. “I really appreciate it. You have—” She closes her eyes. “No idea. Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm trying to get together a Big Chunk for the next major thing that'll be happening, so i've got no estimates on when the next update will be, other than hopefully soon. these shorter chapters were really fun, though, and they kinda slipped out as i was thinking through some other plot points, so more are definitely on their way. again, thank you to everyone for saying such nice things!! i'm really blown away :')


	7. vii. four months, one day after the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another heads-up for another conversation about grief and loss in this chapter. no one in this series ever really got the chance to talk about any of this so by god, i'll be the one to make them do it.

Duck, strike, lunge, focus, block, close, focus, _focus_ —

Sasuke’s punch glances off of Naruto’s shoulder, but he barely registers the contact as he lets the momentum carry his movements. Lunge, close, strike, focus, focus, _focus_ —

_Focus_ —

He’s slow with that reaction and he knows it, and Sasuke’s hand is arcing upwards on a trajectory to meet with Naruto’s chin but his limbs feel sluggish and he needs to _focus_ but—

Sasuke snaps his fingers, right under Naruto’s nose. Naruto starts.

“ _Hey_ ,” Sasuke says sharply, “are you even _here_ , Naruto?”

“Sorry,” Naruto blurts out, and shoves Sasuke’s hand away, and dodges belatedly, and throws another half-hearted punch back, and— and— yeah, no. “No, I— guess I’m not.” He disengages and steps back, running a hand through his hair.

“Well?” Sasuke prompts, after a silence that feels long and altogether too short.

“Huh?”

“What?” Sasuke waves a hand, then crosses his arms. “What’s on your mind?”

Naruto sighs. Shit he doesn’t want to think about, is what. Too much. Too little. Nothing he’s really got words for, anyways.

“Dunno,” Naruto replies, and shrugs. “Everything, I guess.”

Sasuke lets the silence stretch again.

“There’s a plot in the greenhouses that needs weeding. No one’ll be in there this late at night.” Naruto stares at him, uncomprehending. Sasuke rolls his eyes. “If we’re not sparring, we might as well do something else productive. Besides—” He hesitates. “It’s good to keep your hands busy.”

 

* * *

 

The greenhouse plot is, as promised, choked with weeds. Sasuke surveys it silently for a moment, and then picks a corner, kneels, and starts to firmly pull up a weed by its roots. Naruto watches, feeling very far removed from his body, until Sasuke lightly smacks his shin and stares wordlessly, expectantly, impatiently up at him.

It’s quiet. Nothing but the sound of clothes rustling, leaves and stems whispering, roots rasping as they’re pulled from the earth. This plot has been filled with soil that is dark and rich, so unlike the hard-packed sand native to Wind Country, and it smells achingly like home, like walks through the deepest parts of Konoha’s forests.

Distantly, Naruto thinks that – as much as it bothers him to admit this in regard to anything – Sasuke was right. It _is_ good to keep his hands busy. And damn it all, pulling weeds is _satisfying_. There’s a clear path and there’s a rhythm and the stack of weeds to be burnt is a measure of their progress, and that terrible, empty blankness slowly fades as Naruto loses himself in the rhythm of the work. Grab, yank, toss, next. It becomes something mechanical and metered, and he starts going by touch alone, letting his fingers feel for the next bundle of stems to grab for. He’s barely even aware of Sasuke, and that’s automatic too, the way they navigate this space flawlessly around each other, moving fluidly in tandem here like they couldn’t while sparring earlier.

“You know, my name came from Per– from Jiraiya,” Naruto says suddenly, stopping dead with a clump of roots in his hand. Sasuke doesn’t pause, but he meets Naruto’s eyes in a silent invitation to continue. “He wrote a book about a shinobi who wanted to make the world a better place. It was really good, way better than the garbage he wrote later, the stuff Kakashi-sensei reads. And my– my dad, he wanted to name me after the main character.” The dark soil under his hands starts to blur. Naruto sits back on his heels. “Fuck. I never had— people to lose. And now part of me wants to go back to not ever having anyone in my life again, so I don’t lose them.” Naruto takes a deep breath, but it doesn’t quite manage to fill his lungs. “I don’t know how you did this, Sasuke. How you _do_ this.”

“I don’t,” Sasuke says, very, very carefully. His hands are still.

Naruto looks away, back down at the soil that’s starting to swim in his vision now, and takes another deep breath that does nothing to steady him.

And then Sasuke exhales, and Naruto feels the faint pressure of Sasuke’s shoulder against his.

“It doesn’t _get better_ ,” Sasuke continues. Bitterness underlines his carefully even voice. “It doesn’t _go away_. Those are bullshit platitudes. It’s always there. Always. But you– learn to live with it.”

That’s. Well, that’s a thought.

It’s been months, now, and the hole in his life that had previously belonged to Jiraiya is just– it’s _there_. It’s not healing or growing or decaying, it’s just _present_ , constantly, whether he wants to be thinking about it or not. A never-ending mantra in his head that _he was here and now he’s gone, he was here and now I’ll never see him again_.

But it’s– it’s like the time those loud neighbors moved in downstairs when he was eight. The first few weeks were _unbearable_. But three months later, Naruto barely paid them as much attention, even though they were just as loud. And… it’s like Sasuke. The acute absence of him in Naruto’s life never, ever went away, but he got used to it. And being busy training certainly helped, then. Just like doing this has helped, now.

“Or you weed a garden,” Naruto muses.

“Or you weed a garden,” Sasuke agrees.

Naruto takes one more deep breath, and this time, with Sasuke still lightly pressing their shoulders together, it’s not as much of a struggle as it was before.

“Thanks, Sasuke,” he says quietly. Sasuke hums in response, and reaches back down to uproot another weed.

 

* * *

 

(From here, they sink back into easy quiet again, and finish clearing out the plot. Sasuke burns the pile of uprooted weeds outside the greenhouse, and Naruto laughs at the smudges of dirt and ash on his forehead, and things are alright. This particular noisy neighbor might take longer to get used to, but Naruto knows he can manage it. And after all, it is easier with friends around.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see, this is the problem when i write: when i'm working on a bigger chunk, little things like this get squeezed out of the cracks. (also, a clean 1000 words! nice.) i'm having a lot of fun working on this, and i want to thank everyone again (eternally) for saying nice things.


	8. viii. nine months, three weeks, one day after the death of uchiha itachi

“Let’s go over it one more time.” Gaara crosses his arms, and looks at each of them in turn. “With the intel on Danzō that you’ve gathered from Konoha’s records, from Orochimaru’s old bases, from Pain, and from Uchiha Itachi–” Sasuke tenses, just slightly. Gaara meets his eyes. “–we head to the Gokage Summit. For the sake of my village, I cannot grant you any measure of protection as the Kazekage, but I can vouch for Naruto’s character. Kakashi and his platoon will meet you at the Iron Country border, and you will travel together from there, asking for passage as Konoha shinobi. Once you arrive, I think the samurai will attempt to detain you, but I will do my best to negotiate an opening for you to speak during the summit and present your accusations against Danzō to the other Kage as well.”

Naruto blows out a long breath, and runs a hand through his hair.

“Alright,” he says. “Get there, show Danzō for the nasty piece of work he is, go home. No sweat.”

“Slightly more complicated than that,” Sasuke mutters, less snidely than he could have.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Karin asks, and her gaze is insistent and worried as it lands on Gaara. So very much like Temari’s.

Gaara has, contrary to what Temari and Kankurō seem to believe, thought this through. It may not end up having been the most graceful solution, but he has ironclad faith in Naruto’s ability to rally others to his cause regardless of the situation.

“Yes,” Gaara says simply. “Danzō has agreed to my requests to strengthen diplomatic ties over these past months. Even if he suspects me of having leverage against him, or harboring wanted shinobi, he has no reason to – at least on the surface – destroy his relationship with an important ally. Especially not in the face of the other three Kage. Even if he does try to accuse me of harboring you–” Gaara shrugs. “I have more dirt on him than he does on me.”

Naruto grins, bright and mischievous.

Gaara is decidedly not looking forward to the shift from spending so many months in the company of his first and greatest friend, to an absence that will be undoubtedly be a sore one. And even the loss of Team Taka’s presence will be something he feels acutely; they’ve all become a fixture in his life, a comfort. Friends. It will be strange to be without them.

“Naruto,” he starts, “Karin, Jūgo, Suigetsu, Sasuke— good luck.”

To his surprise, Sasuke steps forward.

“You sheltered us for almost nine months,” he says, “even though it was at risk of retribution from Danzō and Konoha if they’d found out. I– we–” He glances back at his team and at Naruto.

“We appreciate it,” Jūgo says, stepping forward as well. “Thank you, Gaara.”

“Yeah,” Naruto adds, “thank you. Seriously.”

“Of course,” Gaara says, and smiles.

 

* * *

 

“Fuck, it’s cold, isn’t it?” Naruto crosses his arms and hunches in on himself, footsteps crunching to a halt as he stands next to Sasuke.

“Then you should have put your cloak on,” Sasuke replies flatly, and pointedly draws his own tighter around himself. It’s _damn_ cold, even compared to the surprisingly frigid desert winter, and the cold nights that have lasted even through a rapidly heating spring. Clearly, here in Iron Country, winter lingers.

Naruto laughs and slings an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders, and the familiar gesture is full of Naruto’s easy grace. Paradoxically, Sasuke can still feel Naruto’s body heat, radiating through one of the thick cloaks Suna had outfitted them all with.

“Man,” Naruto sighs, “feels weird, you know? That it’s all gonna be over soon.”

“Hopefully,” Sasuke mutters.

“Not hopefully, _definitely_ ,” Naruto insists, brows drawn. His arm tenses where it’s still draped across Sasuke’s shoulders. “Even if shit goes sideways tomorrow and Danzō runs back to Konoha and— I dunno, locks the gates and doesn’t let any of us in or something, Ino and Shikamaru left sealed copies of everything we know with their parents, just in case. He’s going to pay no matter what, Sasuke. For Itachi, for Nagato, for Sai and Yamato and Kakashi, for _everything_.”

His eyes are luminous in the bright light of the full moon reflecting in this fresh snow, deep like water, hair glowing pale like sunrises in Suna.

“Naruto,” Sasuke begins, “I— should thank you.”

“What? For what?”

“For this.” Sasuke waves a hand vaguely. “For everything.”

“Of course,” Naruto says simply, and Sasuke thanks every higher power he can think of that Naruto understood what he means and that he doesn’t have to say _words_ , out loud. “You’re my friend, Sasuke. It’s what friends do.”

“I mean it,” Sasuke finds himself insisting. Okay, words seem to have a life of their own, and right now they want nothing more than to spill out in spite of everything. He struggles to gather his thoughts. “You didn’t have to– you went out of your way to chase me, and you didn’t have to do that, and you _did_. And then, after Madara, you didn’t have to stay with me.”

“ _You_ didn’t have to announce that you’re accompanying me to Suna,” Naruto points out, hitting his mark dead center, and Sasuke feels a horrific heat creep up his cheeks. “ _And_ you didn’t have to stay with me there, either.”

“That’s not the point,” Sasuke says, a little too quickly. “What I’m saying is that you’re– you go out of your way to do things for me. And I appreciate it.”

“Because that’s what friends _do_ ,” Naruto replies, rolling his eyes like Sasuke’s missing something about this conversion, and he gently jostles their sides together. “You might be an uptight asshole half the time, but you’re– you know, you’re important to me. All of my friends are. You’re–” Naruto wrinkles his nose, and makes a vague gesture. “You know. You– kinda were my first friend, you know? Well, no, Iruka-sensei was, but he doesn’t really count, _kinda_ , but—” Naruto shrugs, clearly trying to make it look offhand, meets his eyes.

An extremely vivid old memory springs its way through to the top of Sasuke’s thoughts; messy hair, sunset on water, the oppressive heat of a summer afternoon, the empty burn of loss still so new in his chest. And all of the more recent things, too, following in neat points: spars after sundown with the sun-baked earth still radiating heat, old barbs exchanged with familiarity, quiet conversations about loss and doubt and grief and a million other things it never occured to Sasuke that he could talk about to another person and consequently have weight lifted off of his chest.

“I know,” Sasuke says quietly. “Thank you, Naruto.”

Naruto hums in response, and Sasuke moves his arm around Naruto’s back in turn to rest his hand between Naruto’s shoulders, and it feels monumental. Like a step taken with eyes closed, somehow. Everything may well be going to hell tomorrow, but with Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu at his side, with Naruto at his side, he’d rather go to hell than sit by idly watching everything burn.

He and Naruto stand on the brink of something massive, but this time they stand _together_ , not opposed, and he knows it’ll make all the difference.

 

* * *

 

The heads of the Five Elemental Nations gather in the Land of Iron at the request of the Fifth Raikage. Akatsuki’s movements of late have been troubling, to say the least; the recent death of Killer B, coupled with the Kazekage’s abduction and the loss of Nii Yugito, are all painting a clear picture: the Akatsuki threat is growing far beyond borders.

Danzō sits back as he watches his fellow Kage descend into petty squabbling. He is above this. Patiently, he waits. They sling accusations at each other; of being a breeding ground for the Akatsuki, of baiting war, of working to destroy peace. Danzō closes his eyes, and when there is a lull, he speaks.

It’s a simple fact. Sai’s report. The leader of Akatsuki is likely Uchiha Madara.

Mifune looks at Danzō in surprise, then, and is silent as he considers his next words. Danzō slowly gathers chakra in his right eye. Inhale. He waits as Mifune proposes his plan of an alliance of the Five Elemental Nations, something unforeseen. Exhale.

It’s done.

And then, promptly, it all goes to utter shit.

The Gokage Summit is interrupted by a plantlike creature that erupts from the ground and announces the presence of five wanted shinobi. In the ensuing chaos, Danzō flees, having been caught in the act, branded with the crime of attempting to influence Lord Mifune’s decision to name a leader amongst the Kage in their alliance against Akatsuki.

The remaining Kage stand, paralyzed, as the masked man speaks.

War is coming, Madara tells them. It will be long and cruel and by the end you will be _begging_ me for release from this horrible world, for the blissful truth of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. And being a benevolent man, I will grant you this.

And in the blink of a red, red eye, Madara wipes himself out of existence.

 

* * *

 

“I’ve got him,” Karin shouts, eyes snapping back open. “He’s– running? I don’t know what’s going on but the other Kage aren’t moving yet, and we won’t catch him if we don’t—”

Sasuke explodes into motion before Naruto’s even done processing Karin’s words, and Naruto leaps into action as Karin does, a familiar red streak at the corner of his vision.

“He’s heading north,” she continues, “so if we head west and circle around, we might be able to catch Jūgo and Suige–” Sasuke redoubles his speed, his shape a blur, but then Karin’s voice rings out, at full volume, tinged with fear, and she shouts, “ _Wait!_ ”

Naruto almost loses his footing as he skids to a stop and turns to look back at her. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard Karin sound scared.

“Karin?” Sasuke calls from ahead.

“I don’t– what _is_ this?” Her eyes are wide and unfocused, hands coming together automatically in a seal. “There’s a lot of– I don’t know what it is but—” Her breath catches. “Madara is here.”

“ _What?_ ” A crackled charge snaps through the air as Sasuke turns fully to looks back at them

“Danzō first,” Naruto says, because there’s– Danzō is what they came here for, Danzō is what needs to be taken care of right now.

Sasuke locks eyes with Naruto from across the courtyard, for just a split second, and then he’s gone. Naruto curses under his breath – the worst habit he’s picked up from Taka, by far – and vaults up onto the low roofs surrounding the courtyard so he can get a better—

“Oh, no,” Madara says, stepping out of thin air, “I’m afraid I can’t let you follow Sasuke.”

“Fine,” Naruto snarls without pause, “then I’ll go through you.”

He drives forward, _forward_ , he needs to catch up to Sasuke— and connects with Madara’s very solid arm.

“I told you,” Madara says, voice low, and the barely-contained rage deep within it makes the hair on the back of Naruto’s neck stand straight. “I can’t let you follow Sasuke.”

Karin. Madara is interested in him, not in Karin. If he distracts Madara, she can follow Sasuke. Naruto brings his hands together and folds his chakra into ten.

“And I told _you_ ,” he says, “that I’ll just go through you.”

He calls up a Rasengan in a clone’s hand, leaving it messy enough for the extraneous wind to kick up snow, and launches himself forward at Madara with the Rasengan clone and two others— and passes straight through the man’s body, momentum carrying him to the east end of the courtyard, and a wall explodes into dust and snow. More cover. _Anything_. Anything to let Karin get to Sasuke.

“Danzō knows the truth, like I do,” Madara says, standing calmly where he’d been, not even bothering to turn. “Sasuke will have no choice but to accept what your village did to his family and to his ancestors.”

_He has, and not the way you’ve imagined it_ , Naruto wants to shout, and he can feel the anger building within him, running hot and righteous through his veins.

“You’ll never be able to manipulate him, asshole,” Naruto fires back instead, and the other half of his clones start to throw themselves at Madara, _through_ Madara, creating as much chaos as possible. Karin has to be gone by now, she _has_ to be, and if he has to stay here and play Madara’s game in order to give Sasuke a shot, then so fucking be it. “Don’t try to delude yourself.”

“Try? I don’t have to try.” Madara slips through two clones, and bats away two more easily. “All it takes is tugging on the darkness in him. You really think Sasuke can face the man responsible for his family’s slaughter, and walk away with no resentment for his village?” Naruto opens his mouth to reply, and Madara cuts him off. “Can _you?_ ”

Naruto blinks.

“He’s your best friend, you said. Can you really trot back home to Konoha knowing what you know? Isn’t that why you hid yourselves away under the Kazekage’s wing for so long? Sasuke is destined to walk in shadows. It’s in his blood.”

“I don’t care,” Naruto snaps back. “If he gets lost again, I’ll follow him. You Akatsuki assholes have hurt enough people. You’re not getting your claws on Sasuke, and you’re not gonna take any more jinchūriki.”

“Oh, won’t I?” Madara barks out something vaguely resembling a laugh. “I am infinite. I’ve controlled the Rinnegan. I’ve molded the destiny of an entire hidden village. I’ve captured seven bijū. What makes you think I can’t take the remaining two?”

“You really don’t know how to listen, do you?” Naruto doesn’t see Madara’s hands, but he knows the flex of that inhale, that _specific_ way to draw breath, because Sasuke does it the exact same way, and Naruto launches a half-baked Rasengan so that it hits the fireball Madara spits at an oblique angle, the same way he does it sparring with Sasuke just to piss him off. Hot air and smoke and ash stream haphazardly through the courtyard. “I’m saying that I won’t let you. Doesn’t matter whether you can or can’t. You _won’t_.”

“We’ll see about that,” Madara snarls.

Naruto settles himself in for a long game of keep-away. Let Madara come. Naruto’s never met another person capable of outlasting his stamina, and with his friends’ safety on the line – not just Sasuke and Karin, but the Kage left facing the never-ending stream of white plant-person-things swarming the meeting hall, Kakashi and Sakura and Sai and Taka and the others – he’s got all the motivation to fight he could ever need.

So he stands, and holds his ground.

 

* * *

 

Danzō is going to die.

For responding to the call to confess with a patronizing scoff. For that lofty speech in which he neatly washed his hands of guilt, justifying his actions with half-baked arguments. For the Uchiha whose eyes he harvested like some sick crop. For the treason against his own people, for the children he brainwashed, _for Itachi_ , Danzō is going to die.

There is not a single cell in Sasuke capable of mercy anymore.

Not when faced with the sight of Danzō’s forearm barred across Karin’s throat. That he would stoop this low— well. Sasuke is already seeing red. Now, he’ll paint with it.

“Please,” Karin sobs, voice breaking, whole body trembling as she struggles weakly against Danzō’s hold. “Sasuke—”

Her shaking hands push futilely against Danzō’s abomination of an arm, and it’s pitiful. Pathetic, even.

But Sasuke knows Karin, has trained with her for years, has seen exactly what happens when she’s trapped in a situation she doesn’t want to be in, and those? Those are crocodile tears. There’s determination in her eyes as she stares straight at him through her perfectly faked hysteria.

“Karin,” he says evenly, eyes never leaving hers, and understanding flares across her face. “Don’t move.”

Karin shifts.

The chidori blade pierces through her shoulder and straight into Danzō’s heart.

It’s silent as the crackling scream of chidori dies out, save for two sets of ragged breaths that sound deafening in the clearing.

Movement on Danzō’s body. Sasuke watches chakra curl around seals and he’s moving before he can even think, ducking down to scoop Karin up and leap a safe distance away from the failsafe seal that leaves Danzō’s body with a howl.

“ _Fu—uck,”_ Karin hisses out through clenched teeth, shifting in his hold. “You got me good.”

It’s starting to hit him, just what has happened, and Sasuke has to fight to bite back a swirl of emotions that’s rapidly devolving into—

“What do you need?” he manages.

“Set me down, for starters,” Karin says. “I need to sit up.”

Sasuke acquiesces and kneels, carefully arranging her so that her back is propped up against the trunk of a large oak, pulse thundering in his ears. His hands feel numb. Karin’s blood is smeared across his palm, staining his sleeve.

Danzō is dead. Sasuke killed him.

“—suke. _Sasuke_.”

“What?”

“I said, you need to go help Naruto.” Karin looks at him with her eyes narrowed, gaze calculating.

“I— no. I’m not leaving you here.” The formless rush of emotion is rising up even faster now, bottling the air up in his lungs. “Not after I did this to you.”

“I let you do this, I’m already healing myself, and Sakura is heading this way,” Karin replies, and her voice has none of its occasional diplomatic tone. “I’ll be able to walk in a bit and Sakura can help me if I need it, so don’t you dare get all guilty about this. You need to go, Sasuke.”

A heat rises up in Sasuke’s chest, something terrible and stinging and consuming, an echo of what he feels when— _oh_ , that’s something to examine later. But in this moment, he knows that Taka is his family, and he will not lose family again.

“ _Go_ ,” Karin snarls at his hesitation, and then she _headbutts him_. Hard. Sasuke has to slam a hand to the ground to catch himself, and he only manages to blink in surprise before Karin continues. “Naruto needs your help. I will be fine. _Go_ , Sasuke.”

Her eyes are like steel behind her glasses, one hand clasped over her shoulder, blood already drying on her skin.

Sasuke does something he’s never done before: he jerks forward, awkwardly, and presses his lips to Karin’s forehead before leaping away to the north and towards the distant sounds of fighting. As he leaves, he catches her dry, exasperated laugh.

 

* * *

 

Madara disappears soon after Sasuke joins Naruto. Too soon. Sasuke has the uncomfortable suspicion that Madara’s retreat wasn’t a matter of realizing the scales are tipped against him, with Naruto and Sasuke side by side, but rather something else, some long-laid future plans.

(Though that’s a thrill of a thought to entertain — that he and Naruto are a force unto themselves, that the sight of them fighting together could be enough to make an opponent as strong as Madara turn tail.)

The skeletal form of Susano-o flickers and sinks away, and Sasuke is starting to feel the telltale creep of exhaustion settling into his gut. At his side, Naruto lets out a long exhale and runs a hand through his hair before turning to face him.

“I’m gonna hug you,” Naruto declares, and his tone of voice makes it clear he’ll hear no objections. Sasuke just stares. Naruto sighs again before he leans against Sasuke — had they really been standing that close? — and he wraps one arm around Sasuke’s waist, the other around his shoulders, hand resting warm and heavy at the base of his neck.

Sasuke feels himself fold like a house of cards.

“Hey,” Naruto murmurs, once the shaking eases its way out of the fists Sasuke has wrapped in Naruto’s cloak, “I’m proud of you.”

“Why?”

Naruto laughs, warm and quiet.

“Lotta reasons,” he replies. “Mostly ‘cause you do the right thing.”

“I killed him.”

“I know you wouldn’t have done it unless you didn’t have another choice.”

Sasuke doesn’t have the strength to lean away and look Naruto in the eyes.

“You think too much of me, Naruto,” he manages in a strangled whisper. There was nothing noble or righteous about the rage he’d felt, seeing Danzō’s face. Nothing heroic about the vicious satisfaction of hearing Danzō confirm everything, about the vengeance that burned through his blood with each hit. Danzō died a dozen times, and Sasuke relished each death.

“You don’t think enough of yourself,” Naruto counters, and loosens his hold just enough to lightly knock their foreheads together, just once. It’s a softer echo of Karin’s angry headbutt, and Sasuke fights a small smile at the thought. Genetically hard-headed.

Naruto is close. Close enough that Sasuke can pick out minuscule flecks of green and gold in his eyes and the cool tint of an already-fading bruise on his cheekbone and the faint flush of fading adrenaline and with a sinking feeling, a sense of finality, it hits him that——

“Are you _bleeding?_ ”

Sasuke blinks. Moves his hand to the side of his ribs, where the pressure of Naruto’s hand has just registered for him. His side is wet.

Right. Danzō. That mutual strike.

That’s a lot of wet. Perhaps this is why he feels so overwhelmingly weak.

Or maybe it has to do with the way Naruto’s hands are still on him.

“Alright, shit, let’s find Karin,” Naruto says, and loops Sasuke’s arm over his shoulder.

“She’s by the bridge, north,” Sasuke replies through the haze rapidly filling his mind again.

“Is she okay?”

Naruto tugs him forward and up, and Sasuke goes, letting Naruto’s momentum carry them both back towards the bridge, letting Naruto support his weight.

“No. Danzō took her hostage, at the end. I stabbed her through the shoulder to kill him.”

“You _what?_ ”

Naruto jerks them both to a stop and whirls Sasuke around to face him. His body stops turning in Naruto’s grip, but his head doesn’t. Jury’s out on whether that’s the blood loss or the exhaustion or the… everything. Sasuke sighs.

“She knew. She moved enough out of the way.” Everything other than Naruto is an unfocused smear. “I was going to stay with her till Sakura came, but she insisted I go help you. Sakura should be there by now.”

“You–” Naruto’s face flashes from anger to surprise and back to concern. “That was dumb!” he finally says, voice heated.

“I know,” Sasuke replies, and briefly shuts his eyes. “Let’s go. I want to check on her.”

“Yeah, you better,” Naruto mutters, but he readjusts his hold on Sasuke’s waist, and moves forward again.

It’s a short, blurry trip back to the bridge with Naruto’s help, and Sasuke finds himself resting against the broad trunk of a tree next to Karin with little recollection of how he got there.

“Are you okay?” he asks her, once he’s managed to push air out of his lungs.

Karin rolls her eyes and pushes off one shoulder of her torn, heavily stained jacket. There’s a very, very faint scar there, a small knot of jagged lines spidering out over the span of an inch square, if that.

“I’m _fine,_ ” she says, and rolls her eyes. “Like I told you. But you’re barely on your feet.”

Sasuke exhales, closes his eyes, and lets his head roll back against the tree.

Karin is fine. Danzō is dead. Madara has escaped.

And once again, Sasuke had only planned as far as his target’s death.

 

* * *

 

“So. What do you think?”

Yamato’s careful eyes watch him. Kakashi sighs.

“I think it’s going to be a shitshow,” he says honestly. “Whatever Madara is planning, I mean. He’s been alive for decades, so I’m not excited to see him try to reap whatever it is he’s sown.”

“And the Alliance?” Yamato asks, a little too casually. It’s that voice he uses when he’s got a strong opinion on something, and he’s hoping for a specific answer.

“Groundbreaking,” Kakashi replies, and shrugs. “I think it’s about damn time. Suna and Konoha have been close for a long time now, and it’s been good for both of us.”

Yamato nods thoughtfully, eyes shining in triumph, so he must consider that to be an acceptable answer. He adds, “I wonder how the Elder Council and the clan heads are going to react to the news about Danzō.”

“His death? Or the rest?”

“Both.” Yamato shrugs uncertainly. “Homura and Koharu had a lot of faith in Danzō, in spite of everything. I get the feeling their… mm, _myopia_ , isn’t going to disappear overnight.”

“I agree,” Kakashi replies, and sighs heavily. “I don’t know what we’ll do about a Hokage. I think–” He casts a quick look around. Sakura isn’t here, and he can’t sense her close by, either. He lowers his voice anyways. “It might be a little too much to hope that Tsunade will want the hat back when she wakes up. I don’t know what the Jōnin Council is going to come up with in the interim.”

“You don’t think they’ll name a new Hokage?” Yamato asks, and that carefully casual note is back in his voice.

“Do you have a candidate in mind?” Kakashi asks mildly, knowing _full_ well where this is going.

Yamato opens his mouth, and is promptly interrupted by Suigetsu in the doorway.

“Hey,” he calls, “Naruto’s up, and he’s about to explode with questions.”

And with that Suigetsu breezes back out and down the hallway.

“Well,” Kakashi sighs, “let’s get going, then.”

Yamato gives Kakashi an extremely loaded look, a _you know damn well what I was going to say_ look, and follows Suigetsu down the hall.

Kakashi is neither careless nor an idiot, as much as he acts the part. He knows he’s functionally next in line to be Hokage, and he’s still mildly surprised that Danzō never considered him enough of a threat to the position to have him assassinated. Though with the utter chaos that Konoha’s political landscape has become, and with Tsunade’s health coming back to her steadily, it’s… well, it’s entirely possible that the Jōnin Council and the elders will hold off on choosing a Hokage until she wakes. Kakashi certainly damn hopes so.

And Danzō… there’s still a lot to pick apart. From what Naruto had told them yesterday, Madara had seemed wholly and utterly unconcerned with Danzō, as if he weren’t even the slightest blip on Madara’s radar— except that he thought that letting Sasuke see – and consequently kill – Danzō might _push_ Sasuke somehow. Into working against Konoha, likely. Not the most baseless assumption, truthfully, but as recklessly driven by emotion as Sasuke is, Naruto manages to balance him. And isn’t _that_ a thought, that Naruto really does ground Sasuke emotionally. (Or at least, he seems to. Kakashi is starting to not want to pay too much attention to what may or may not be between them. That’s not for him to figure out.)

In spite of everything, though, Sasuke is here, and seems even more firmly attached to Taka and to Naruto than before. At least there’s that, as the Five Nations gear up for war. It’s a familiar pain, dragging up the type of wide-scope analytical thinking used in war. Like muscles that haven’t been used for too long, except Kakashi had hoped he’d never have to use these muscles again. Sasuke and Taka are a huge asset to have on their side against Madara, and the relationships that the Konoha 11 forged with Suna in the past months are going to be immeasurably useful.

Damn, he hates thinking about people like they’re assets, like they're pieces on a board. But it has to be done.

Kakashi sighs yet again, and drops his hands into his pockets. It’s going to be an interesting homecoming.

 

* * *

  

“Oh shit, you’re awake!” Naruto nudges the door fully open and walks in, dumping the pile of folded blankets out of his arms and into a vacant chair.

A knot of worry that Naruto hadn’t even been aware of eases itself out of his chest. Some nonsensical stress about Sasuke secretly being more injured than he’d let on, or something. But no, Sasuke squints up at him, bleary-eyed and tired but otherwise looking fine, and then he sits up.

“How long was I out, if _you’re_ awake?” Sasuke mutters.

“The whole night, and then some,” Naruto replies, rolling his eyes at the jibe. “It’s two in the afternoon.” He sits on the edge of the bed and tucks one leg up under him.

“How’s Taka?”

“They’re fine. Those Zetsu things weren’t particularly strong, but they were crafty and there were a lot of ‘em.”

Sasuke folds up his legs, intentionally kneeing Naruto in the process, and then rubs at his eyes.

“Good,” he mumbles.

“You used Susano-o a lot,” Naruto says quietly. “Way more than we ever did sparring. You’re probably exhausted, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Sasuke exhales, and lets his shoulders curl in. He looks _exhausted_. Almost as bad as that very first day, after Itachi. Naruto shifts in his spot, and his thigh bumps against Sasuke’s shin.

“I don’t regret it,” Sasuke says slowly, before Naruto can think of a way to ask. “I feel like I should.”

“Well, I feel like you shouldn’t,” Naruto counters. “Danzō is— was— a fucking monster. If there’s anyone who had the right, it was you.”

“It was all true.” Sasuke looks away, down at his hands. “Danzō confirmed everything. I didn’t even have to ask, he just bragged about it, like I was supposed to be grateful.” Sasuke pauses again, still not quite looking over at Naruto. “He was full of shit. I’m still wondering how far that went.”

“I dunno,” Naruto says, and fidgets with the hem of his pants. “I think we were wrong about the Akatsuki thing.”

“Wrong how?”

“Wrong like… Madara seemed to _want_ you to kill Danzō. So I dunno if he was just trying to mess with Konoha or the Five Nations, or he had some issue with the guy, or what. But I don’t think they were working together.”

“But it’s over now,” Sasuke says, firmly, looking straight ahead. “He’s dead and it’s over.”

“I’ll be able to go home, you know,” Naruto says, looking down at his hands. “Feels kinda weird.” Feels kinda _extremely_ weird. Madara’s taunt about trotting back to Konoha hasn’t stopped rattling around in his mind, despite his best efforts, and it’s shaken loose a number of things Naruto had been trying to not think about. Which was probably Madara’s whole _point_ , since that’s the point of a taunt like that. And Sasuke... “And you?”

“Hmm?”

“What’ll you do?”

Sasuke freezes, opens his mouth, and is promptly interrupted by Suigetsu.

“Family meeting,” Suigetsu calls from the hall, barely slowing as he walks past the doorway. “We’re heading out.”

“What?” Naruto shouts after him.

“Pack up,” Suigetsu shouts back, voice getting gradually more distant. “We’re heading out ASAP, Kakashi says we’re having _a talk_ on the way.”

Sasuke meets Naruto’s eyes and finally, _finally_ , there’s a spark of familiar exasperation there; finally, a sign that there’s some life slowly coming back to his best friend.

“C’mon,” Naruto says, and _let's go home_ tastes a little too bittersweet on his tongue to say out loud.

 

* * *

 

They’re not far from the Fire Country border, and Naruto feels _antsy_. Kakashi and Yamato had talked their ears off as they’d wound their way back south from Iron Country but Naruto feels like it all fell through an exceptionally holey sieve. They’re all arguing about maps or roads or something now and Naruto checked himself out of the conversation a few minutes ago, mostly out of self-preservation, because Sakura’s voice is crawling closer and closer to the end of her temper.

He’s about to _maturely_ busy himself kicking rocks into the river when Sasuke walks up to him, arms crossed.

“Let’s talk.” Sasuke tips his chin up and motions to a spot further up the river.

Naruto makes a face at him, on principle, but leaves the fringes of that ongoing logistics conversation between Taka and Sakura and Kakashi and Yamato, and follows Sasuke as he picks his way through old growth. Light falls dim and dappled across his hair, his shoulders, and with the setting sun it looks like embers clinging to him.

“What d’you want to talk about?” Naruto asks, taking two leaping strides ahead so that they’re shoulder to shoulder.

Sasuke slows to a stop by the riverbank, and hums. He’s frowning, eyes focused somewhere far away, and as he’s thinking Naruto picks out a flat rock from the bank, tests its weight in his hand, and then skips it across the water.

It bounces one, twice, and sinks before it can reach the other side.

Naruto wrinkles his nose and reaches for another rock.

He knows it’s an unbalanced throw before it even leaves his fingertips, and it bounces once, and again, and— another rock strikes it, propelling both to the other side with a _tink_ that’s audible even over the rushing water.

Sasuke smirks, dropping his hand. Naruto, maturely, sticks out his tongue. The silence continues after that, and finally, just as Naruto is about to give in to the itch to ask, Sasuke breaks it.

“I’m not going to Konoha with you,” Sasuke says, turning to look out over the river.

“Yeah, I know.” Naruto’s had the distinct feeling for a while now that Sasuke won’t be coming back. Not yet, at least. And Naruto _understands_ , he gets it, and he honestly doesn’t know how he feels about Konoha right now either, even with Danzō gone, and even that all happened so damn fast that Naruto is still trying to wrap his head around everything. It still stings to hear Sasuke say it, though. “I’ve— I had a feeling.”

“I know that…” Don’t say _that’s what you wanted_ , Naruto implores silently, clenching his jaw. _Don’t._ Dragging Sasuke back to Konoha against his will might have been the original plan, but now, right now, Naruto realizes he’d fight to keep Sasuke _out_ of the village, since that’s clearly what he needs. And if Sasuke forced himself to be there, just because that’s what he thinks Naruto wants? Naruto wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt. This he knows without a doubt. “There’s a lot to be resolved in Konoha right now. My presence would complicate it. And I don’t think I want to be back yet.”

“I’m not gonna be mad at you or something,” Naruto says, words rushing out in relief. “I mean, yeah, of course I want you to come home, you know? But I want you to _want_ to come home. I want you to feel– I dunno, safe. To have closure.”

“I know, you loser,” Sasuke replies, and his eyes crinkle up at the corners with warm mirth.

...and all of a sudden, Naruto realizes just how much he loves that sight, and how much he’ll miss it.

“Hey! I’m just making sure you know. I want you to do what you wanna do, you know?” The words keep tumbling out, floodgates opened. “Not what some snakey creep wants, or that masked nutjob. I just— I want you to be okay. And to know that I’m here to kick your ass into shape if you’re not. You’re my friend, and I don’t want you to be hurting. If that means you’re not in Konoha, then, you know, so be it.”

Sasuke looks away again at this, out over the river, and Naruto wills himself to let Sasuke have some silence as he mulls over whatever it is that’s clearly bothering him.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about Madara, or this war he’s declared. Danzō’s death brought up more questions than it answered, but that’s– that needs to wait till Madara’s done playing whatever game it is he’s playing. We’ve still got contacts among Orochimaru’s old subordinates and experiments. It’s be worth a shot to see if they’ll stand against Akatsuki.”

“This is really happening, isn’t it,” Naruto says. He feels blank as the words leave his mouth. “War, I mean.”

“Yeah.” Sasuke crosses his arms, and lowers his eyes. “Madara will be coming for you.”

“I know. What an asshole.”

“You need to be on your guard, Naruto.” Sasuke does look at him with this, eyes solemn, brows drawn just enough to cause the slightest crease.

“I _know,_ ” Naruto repeats, a little more sullenly. “Honestly, I’m kinda thinking— we make a good team, you know? I trust you to have my back more than anyone. Maybe I should stick with you instead.”

He’s half-joking, grinning as he says it, but the serious half of him kind of— aches, just a bit, somewhere between his ribs. It’s going to be hard to be without Sasuke after spending the better part of a year with him, day in, day out. Sasuke won’t be _gone_ , not like he was, and while Naruto knows that, it’s still— he’s still going to miss Sasuke, and it’s going to fucking suck.

“Nah,” Sasuke says, and resettles his crossed arms before nudging Naruto with a small smile. “You deserve to go home.”

“So do you,” Naruto replies.

“I don’t really know where that is,” Sasuke says quietly. Naruto watches his dark eyes track the flow of water in the river. There’s something on the tip of his tongue, something he can’t quite grasp.

“When you find it,” Naruto finally says, “I’ll be there.” He rests a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.

“I’m sure,” Sasuke replies wryly. “I already tried to kick you out of my life once, and we can see how well that ended.”

“You’re stuck with me, for better or for worse,” Naruto confirms, and when he wraps his arm around Sasuke’s shoulders, Sasuke leans against him just a little bit. “Hey, you’ll stay in touch, right?”

“Naruto, it’s not like you’ll be banned from leaving Konoha,” Sasuke replies, amused. “Even if you were, I doubt that’d stop you from leaving if you wanted to.”

“You _will_ write, though?”

“Of course,” Sasuke says, and finally puts his hand on Naruto’s back in return, a blooming warmth spreading from the contact. “You won’t be rid of me so easy, either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a lot of shake-ups happening irl, so things might be slow? possibly? they're all good things, i'm just a little busier than anticipated trying to shuffle everything around. 
> 
> i've been sitting on this chapter – specifically on karin, danzo, and sasuke – for a really long time, and i'm excited to finally get it out there! like, man, karin did so much of the heavy lifting during that fight, and i am (clearly) firmly behind the idea that she knew that if she got taken "hostage," it'd give sasuke an appropriate opening. i guess that really does make the running theme in this fic "we do really dumb shit to help our friends because we love them."


	9. ix. twelve months, two weeks, five days since the death of uchiha itachi

“Oh, you’re only twenty minutes late this time,” Tsume says as the window slides shut, and she crosses her arms. “That’s a new record.”

“I was saying, Kakashi, that Kumo’s sent word that they’re still looking for their jinchūriki,” Shikaku says, unruffled as ever. “So we’re still not entirely sure whether Madara has gotten to him or not.”

Kakashi intentionally forgoes the empty chair left for him, as usual, and leans against the wall instead.

“I’ve said it before, but I really get the feeling that the Hachibi jinchūriki will show up in his own time,” Kurenai says. “Besides, if Madara had him, you really don’t think he’d escalate?”

“On that note, now that Kakashi is finally here—” Inoichi pauses to give him a stern look. “—Tsume, Shibi, if you could summarize your reports?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve got Taka’s,” Kakashi adds, and makes no move to pull them out from where he’s been using them as a bookmark. “Naruto brought me them when he came back this morning.”

“Neither I nor anyone else in the clan has picked up anything this week in our sectors,” Tsume says, and leans back in her chair to cross one ankle over her knee. “Shibi did, though.”

“Kikaichū at one of the checkpoints near the northern border registered Zetsu chakra,” Shibi reports, nodding. “I went to check it myself, and found two Zetsu units. I destroyed both.”

“Just one incident, then,” Shikaku sighs. “If Madara’s trying to keep us all on our toes, he’s succeeding. Sometimes I wonder whether the rest of the village can tell how bad our paranoia is getting.”

“Well, Taka reported a string of attacks at Iwa’s eastern border,” Kakashi says, flipping through the collection of letters he’s amassed. “And that, quote, Sasuke was a killjoy on his own birthday, endquote.”

“Ah, teenagers being teenagers,” Gai booms dramatically, eyes twinkling.

“And any news on Kabuto?” Shikaku prompts.

“Nope,” Kakashi replies, drawing out the word with a shrug. “Karin’s report says she can barely sense traces of his chakra, as if he’s been gone for months at every place they try.”

“I really don’t like this.” Shikaku sighs, after a pause. “Of all the rogue shinobi we’ve been tracking, it’s most important that we get some kind of read on Kabuto.”

“Taka is working on it,” Kakashi says, and a flicker of something he doesn’t necessarily want to name flares up in his chest.

“I know,” Shikaku says, weary, and holds up a hand in apology. “I’m just concerned. What you reported of the last time you encountered him after Orochimaru’s death, he might just be unbalanced enough to work with Madara.” The mood in the room both sours and sharpens immediately at this. Shikaku ignores it and goes on. “And this month’s relative quiet compared to that big skirmish at the end of last month… it’s clear Madara is trying to make this a war of attrition. He’s patient, and the Zetsu creatures won’t get demoralized the way shinobi can. This war will be a long one.”

He shares a long look with Inoichi, then sighs yet again, and the Jōnin Council meeting continues as it always does, caught somewhere between somber and resigned.

 

* * *

 

Kakashi attempts to flee to his apartment as soon as the meeting is over, which is how he ends up being roped into dinner with Iruka. As ever. Life is falling into a new pattern, now, and Kakashi isn’t entirely sure yet whether he likes it.

“—which means the _whole_ trimester gets thrown off, just because of one kid’s brainless parents—”

“Mm-hmm.”

“—and so _I’ve_ been stuck trying to rework the curriculum,” Iruka is saying. “Anyways, I know Naruto got home this morning, but I haven’t seen him. How is he?”

“Mm— hmm?”

“How’s Naruto?” Iruka sets down his empty bowl and turns the full force of his calm attention to Kakashi.

“You could always ask him yourself,” Kakashi deflects. _Wow_ , this katsudon is certainly the single most interesting thing he’s seen all day.

“I will,” Iruka says simply, “and he’ll tell me that he’s doing great. Which is why I’m asking _you_ how he is.”

Kakashi likes Iruka, very much, and it’s these moments he’s reminded why: this man has one of the most profound gifts for reading people and _understanding_ them that Kakashi has ever seen. It’s also the reason that Kakashi hates Iruka, very much, and it’s also these moments he’s reminded why.

What the _hell_ is he supposed to say? That Naruto is clearly chafing under the knowledge of what Danzō did now that he’s back in Konoha? That he now has to handle being a target because of the Kyūbi in an entirely different way, now? That, on top of everything, he’s had to reconcile being separated from his friends by the start of a war?

“Well, he’s gone through a lot of change in the past year,” Kakashi finally says. “I think he’s got a lot on his mind. His friends’ safety, for one, on top of the obvious threat, but a lot has happened.”

“I get the feeling that the revelations about Danzō didn’t help,” Iruka muses. “That kind of underhanded manipulation coming from a position that Naruto has valued and looked up to his whole life, that’s not easy to tackle. No matter how long he’s known.”

“No, it’s not.” Kakashi rests his chin in his hand, and ignores the look Iruka gives him for putting his elbow on the counter. “Sometimes I think he’d be happiest rounding up Teams 8 and 10 and hitting the road with Taka. He was more himself while heading out to scout with Taka two weeks ago than he had been the whole month before that.”

“It can’t be easy to be back in Konoha knowing what he knows,” Iruka says. “I don’t blame him.”

Conversations like this are some of the worst, in their own way. Kakashi feels _acutely_ the weight of the truth about Itachi and about Danzō, about what Root had done and had failed to do and had planned to do, and he burns with the urge to lay it all out, sometimes, to let someone like Iruka look at the situation, let someone insightful and thoughtful and less broken by this broken system distill something from it that isn’t trained numbness.

Iruka looks at him with eyes that see all too much, and then he sighs.

“It really has been a whole year, hasn’t it? I can’t believe your kids are all turning twenty next year.”

“Please, don’t call them my kids,” Kakashi groans. “I already feel ancient.”

Iruka pats him on the shoulder and gives him a cheerful smile that holds zero sympathy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ┏┓  
> ┃┃╱╲ in  
> ┃╱╱╲╲ this  
> ╱╱╭╮╲╲house  
> ▔▏┗┛▕▔ we  
> ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲  
> know that having a war  
> only last three days is  
> utter horseshit  
> ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲  
> ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔


	10. x. twelve months, two weeks, five days since the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> discussions of grief again in this chapter – i feel like i say that a lot but grief can be a sticky thing, so better safe than sorry.

It comes and goes without fanfare.

The morning that Naruto splits off to go back to Konoha now that his temporary scouting assignment with Team Taka is over, Sasuke realizes that it’s already been more than a year since Itachi died.

That he’d _forgotten_.

He stops mid-word, mid-breath, capable of nothing but staring blankly, and he can’t even bring himself to react when Naruto waves a hand in his face.

“...Sasuke?”

He can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t do anything. His hand is frozen halfway through a gesture, tongue like lead in his mouth. Moisture has started to pool reflexively in his unblinking eyes, throwing Naruto’s concerned face into supernaturally sharp relief.

“Whoa, Sasuke, are you o—”

“It’s— been a year.”

Time feels like it’s positively crawling as Sasuke watches every muscle in Naruto’s face shift from confusion to understanding. He doesn’t know how he managed to force the words out; he feels utterly disconnected from his own body.

“Yeah,” Naruto says quietly, gently, “it has.” And then he blows out a long breath. “Fuck. Sit down, okay? You look like you’re– you don’t look good.”

Sasuke feels Naruto’s hand tug him down towards a boulder, and he doesn’t so much sit on it as he collides with it. Naruto sits down next to him, tucks his legs up, crosses his arms on his knees, and rests his chin on his forearms with another sigh.

“It’s been a year and a half since Jiraiya died,” Naruto murmurs, voice muffled. “I think. I try not to count. Makes it feel worse somehow, you know?”

Sasuke is drowning in dead air, rising in his lungs.

“I forgot,” he finally says. His own voice sounds distant to him, fogged. “It was so– so— I _forgot_.”

Naruto turns his head, and just looks at him. Doesn’t say anything. Just looks. His eyes are solemn and bright in the early-morning light, and Sasuke is returned suddenly and forcibly back to his own body when his chest floods with something he doesn’t know how to quantify.

“‘S’okay, you know,” Naruto says, voice still quiet, lowering his eyes. “Life goes on, no matter how much we don’t want it to.”

Sasuke manages a short inhale in spite of the iron bands around his chest. There’s nothing he can sort out of this miasma of emotion as it rears its way up through his stomach, through his throat, up onto his tongue and into his head.

...No, he knows what this feeling is. It’s guilt.

Guilt that he didn’t remember the day, that he didn’t spend it mourning. Guilt that he hasn’t taken appropriate revenge. Guilt that he isn’t doing enough. Guilt that he’ll never do enough. Never live up to what Itachi did for Konoha. Never live up to what Itachi expected of him.

Naruto takes another deep, slow breath next to him, and again Sasuke feels himself jerked back out of his thoughts and into his body. Before he can even think, he’s leaning over, spine like gelatin, body numb, and he presses his shoulder against Naruto’s. (Later, he’ll think about how this may have been the first time in years he’s reached out to someone.)

Naruto blessedly says nothing and wraps an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders and just _holds_. It’s awkward and cramped because Sasuke’s slumped over and halfway twisted around and part of the boulder they’re sitting on is jutting out between them, but Naruto slowly pulls him in till Sasuke’s temple is pressed against Naruto’s shoulder, and Naruto is supporting all of his weight. Naruto shifts a little, knee bumping against Sasuke’s, and then runs a hand up Sasuke’s back and down, slow and warm, a comforting rhythm, and Sasuke flushes every thought out of his mind except how to breathe in and out.

“It’s strange,” he finally says, very slowly, voice thick as if he’d been sleeping, “to think that I barely knew my brother.” He huffs out a strangled, frustrated noise. “It hurts. I hate it.”

Naruto is silent. Sasuke realizes, after some time, that there’s nothing Naruto could say that would make Sasuke magically feel better; that this silence is a thousand times more productive than any conversation they could possibly be having. Sasuke hesitates, fingers numb and arm weak, before slowly weaving his arm around Naruto’s back in turn.

Slowly, slowly, the rest of the world starts to filter in as the static filling his mind drains away. The rasp of his shirt under Naruto’s hand. The rustle of wind through the odd mix of trees and grass, here at the border between Fire Country and Sound. The (thankfully distant) sounds of Karin and Suigetsu arguing, reminding him just why he and Naruto had stepped away in the first place.

Sasuke cares about Team Taka, enjoys their presence, genuinely likes being around them, and yet there’s something so _different_ about the way he feels when Naruto is around. Sasuke is not a fool; he knows what this is, even if he hates thinking about it because it makes him feel like a silly child, but the way he gets a thrill running through his veins each time he looks over and sees Naruto by his side — it’s dangerous. It makes Sasuke a liability. He’d go to any lengths for Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu, but for Naruto… it’s unquantifiable.

Mostly, he thinks, the temptation to return to Konoha with Naruto is growing too great. It’s an ever-present buzz that’s been slowly growing into a chorus, and it jumps irrationally to a fever pitch whenever Naruto smiles that bright, mischievous smile, but it’s never worse than a moment like this, where Sasuke is soaking up the simple comfort of proximity to the best person he’s ever known, and the best friend he’s ever had.

“I think he would have liked you.”

“Hmm?”

“Itachi. From what I remember.”

“Really?” Naruto turns his head to look at him, and ends up having to smoothe down Sasuke’s hair from where it’d evidently tickled his face. Sasuke lets himself feel the jolt of adrenaline that runs through his stomach and repressed the accompanying shiver. “Why?”

“You’re both infuriating.”

Naruto laughs at this, full-bodied, and the grief of the moment is… not entirely broken, perhaps, but it shifts to something less pressing, less immediately painful; something closer to the usual burn that lurks at the edges of his mind.

“Seriously?” Naruto nearly cackles. “Of all things, that’s it?”

“Yeah.” Sasuke feels the hint of a smile pulling at his mouth. “All I ever wanted to do was be around him, so I could do everything he did, since he was the best. But he’d always just shove me away and tell me later, later. It drove me up the wall.”

“So you’re saying that you idolize me and think I’m the best and _that’s_ why he’d like me, right?” Naruto says loftily. “Ah, I knew it.”

“In your dreams, you loser.”

“I mean—” Naruto shrugs against Sasuke, then squeezes his shoulder and leans in, just a bit. “—knowing why he did what he did, it’s clear he was a good man. That’s a pretty big compliment you just paid me, you know.”

And Sasuke… really hadn’t thought about it like that, not at all, but it’s true. That same burn to protect a village that by all means didn’t treat them with the respect they deserved, that’s something Naruto _does_ share with the memory of his brother, with the true knowledge of what he’d done.

It’s a lot to think about.

Sasuke sighs. Naruto hasn’t even gone back to Konoha yet, and yet Sasuke is already looking forward to the next scouting mission that Naruto will be accompanying them on. Whether or not Sasuke genuinely would want to return to Konoha is something he needs to have a long think about before even bringing it up to the rest of Team Taka, much less with Kakashi or anyone else who might be able to actually allow them in the village. They are still technically all missing-nin, after all.

But above all else, this feeling is ever-present, a truth he can’t shove away, highlighting in retrospect the utter misery of the years he spent away from Konoha: he is happiest around Naruto.

“I know,” Sasuke finally says. “I meant it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man, seriously, thank you all so much for your wonderful comments. every time someone says something lovely i get even more excited about working on this fic and getting it posted, and this fic has also been SUCH a great learning experience for me, i don't know why i was always so scared of posting things chapter-by-chapter like this as i'm writing. we're slowly approaching some stuff i've had written for a long time that i'm REALLY excited to share and i can't wait >:)


	11. xi. thirteen months, three weeks, six days since the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twofer today again! another chapter coming shortly.

“So.” Karin crosses her arms, and gives Sasuke a stare that he can’t avoid. “When are you going to tell him?”

Sasuke frowns at her, then glances briefly in the direction Naruto had left in. For just a second, Karin wonders whether he could see it with the Sharingan: the swirls and eddies of chakra Naruto sheds wherever he goes, bright like flakes of sunshine, still lingering even though he’s probably already halfway back to Konoha now from where Taka is camped for the night, somewhere on the nebulous border between Fire and Mist Country.

“Tell him what?” Sasuke asks, slowly, voice drenched with suspicion.

“That you’re losing your eyesight.”

Sasuke blinks, composure slipping, and a few emotions briefly flit across his face. Relief, for one, which makes Karin almost regret she didn’t ask when Sasuke is planning on telling Naruto he’s clearly head over damn heels for the guy, but that’s some teasing that can be saved for another time, when she can really relish it.

“I’ll tell him when I tell him,” Sasuke says stiffly. “It’s manageable.”

“You need to tell Sakura too, or I will,” Karin threatens, ignoring him entirely. “You can’t just keep ignoring this, Sasuke. It’s not going to go away on its own. Eyesight doesn’t just come back.” At this, surprisingly, a look of wild discomfort flashes across Sasuke’s face, one he’s clearly too preoccupied with to hide. “Sasuke?”

“I’ll tell him next time I see him,” Sasuke finally says. “I’ll take first watch tonight.”

And with that, he stalks away past the bounds of where the firelight can reach him.

“Another day, another productive conversation with Sasuke.”

“This isn’t funny, Suigetsu,” Karin snaps. “Sasuke’s eyesight gets worse with every use of Amaterasu or Susano-o, and the worse it’s gotten, the more he’s been depending on Susano-o to keep himself safe even though these skirmishes aren’t the worst fighting we’ve seen, not by a long shot. If he tells Naruto, Naruto can tell Sakura, and Sakura will— she’ll know what to do.” Karin nods to herself. “She can fix it.”

“Can she?” Jūgo’s voice is quiet, and even though Karin _knows_ he didn’t mean it to be contrary, she can feel her already-thin temper flaring. 

“There’s no– she’ll fix it, okay? Sasuke can’t lose his eyesight. That’s not–” She swallows. “It’s not fucking _fair_.”

“I know,” Jūgo says, calm and soft. “But there’s a chance that nothing can be done. And even if that’s the case, then we keep doing what we’re doing to support him.”

“Yeah.” Suigetsu bumps her shoulder with his. “Besides, you know Naruto would probably sooner die than let this go without trying his damndest to look at every option.”

“I’m worried,” Karin finally says. “Sorry for snapping. But I’m just worried. I dunno, all these weird attacks at the borders, and _especially_ that we still can’t find Kabuto— no one from _any_ of the old bases has seen him and that’s, honestly, just statistically impossible.”

“It’s ‘cause he’s a creepy fuck,” Suigetsu says simply. “Look, either Kabuto’s up to something, or he’s not. We stay on our guard, we keep looking, and we keep an eye on any more Zetsu things popping up.” He lays a hand on Karin’s shoulder. “If there’s anything Team Taka is good at, it’s surviving together.”

“That’s true.”

Suigetsu squeezes her shoulder gently before rubbing a small circle into her back, and damn it, she’s not the one who needs support here. Though she _is_ seemingly the only one in their merry band who expends the brainpower to actually worry about things. But sometimes, she would really kill to be able to _not_ worry, to not notice things and catalogue them as a hierarchy of threats and assets and patterns. 

Okay. Okay okay okay. She has things to do. Karin gently extracts herself from Suigetsu’s grasp and from Jūgo’s quiet stare and busies herself laying out the report she needs to write to Temari. Maybe it’s worth shoving this one off of Jūgo and instead tackling the report that needs to be written up for Kumo, since Temari won’t get mortally offended by Jūgo’s casual, simple reports.

Or _maybe,_ if someone _else_ had the sense and foresight to write formal, detailed reports on things as they’re happening, she wouldn’t have pidgeonholed herself into this role. Karin huffs, flicks hair out of her face, and pulls out a new sheet of paper. Naruto took Konoha’s reports with him on his way back, as per usual, but fuck it.

_Sakura_ , she starts, _life is miserable without having someone around to commiserate with about all these blockheads. How’ve you been?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear, one day i'll hit "post without preview" by accident and not get the chance to fix my en- and em-dashes.


	12. xii. fourteen months, two days since the death of uchiha itachi

You are Madara. 

This is the truth (the lie) you have told yourself for decades. 

And it’s the strangest thing that’s dislodged it. 

Your plans have gone awry. This is not, in itself, the issue; your plans have required change before, and you have changed them, and you are still so, so close to letting the world wash away into blissful nothingness. But you thought you had Sasuke. This is also not, in itself, the issue; you are perfectly capable of kickstarting the Plan with just Zetsu and whatever information Kisame brings you when the time comes. 

But you thought you had Sasuke.

It’s the extent to which you misread him that’s the surprise. That’s the issue. Because you saw yourself: with one single lifeline being the only thing keeping him from sinking into the darkness. And with Itachi’s death, that line should have been cut. He should have seen what That Village had done to his family, to his brother, to _him,_ and he should have been consumed by the black fire raging inside him. 

And the Kyūbi jinchūriki, that pitiable child, should have heard your words and sunk deeper into the wrath building in his own heart, should have turned his back on the village that had shunned and mistreated him for well over sixteen years, at that point. Now, it’s been almost exactly nineteen years, and the festering should have only gotten worse. 

But it _didn’t._

You thought you were watching it brew, all those months they were cowering in the Kazekage’s shadow, and you were somehow – _somehow_ – proven entirely incorrect. All the pieces had lined up: Sasuke was supposed to snap when you pushed him, he was supposed to rage and scream and collapse into emptiness just like when you watched **HIS** screaming hand rip through **HER** and your life shattered into—– 

_**NO.** _

No. 

That is not the person you are. You are Uchiha Madara, not the tattered remnants of a child left clinging to your thoughts.

Not anymore. You must only look at Sasuke now as a missed opportunity, not as an example of what your life would have been like if you hadn’t— if you hadn’t——

No. No, no, no. 

You close your eye, take a breath, and reorganize your thoughts.

You have been keeping a close eye on That Asset. He’s shown his face, slowly, quietly, amid the chaos of each skirmish you’ve sparked these past few months; so slowly, so quietly, that you’re sure he’s trying to signal you. 

Whatever he has up his sleeve, you know you can use it. Whether or not you’ll be putting him directly under your control will be a simple matter of seeing whether and how he approaches you. His former connections mean he’s likely got an untold wealth of knowledge at his disposal, and you know he’s clever and twisted enough to have many, many ways to use it. Willingly or otherwise.

You do hope it’s willingly. It’s so much more fun to watch people do your work unprompted.

You slide on your gloves, and slide through to the space between spaces.

You’ve got work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been having a good time writing shorter chapters, since it keeps me from overexplaining and then dragging something out (and besides, there's nothing stopping me from going back to add something). i feel like i say this every time, but i'm having so much fun writing this, and i'm so glad people have been having fun reading it.


	13. xiii. fourteen months, one week, five days since the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> author attempts to write something based off the wiki summary of an arc in the anime despite not having watched any of the anime since 2007
> 
> there are a few content warnings for this chapter!  
> \- (non-detailed) descriptions of pretty serious injuries  
> \- medical jargon-type descriptions of eyes; no eye injury or eye trauma, and nothing graphic, but medical descriptions of parts of an eyeball

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

Sakura sprints across the muddy ground and weaves through scattered debris – this far from the village, oh, hell, the fight must have been bad – before skidding to a stop by the rocky outcropping as described, squinting through the pouring rain.

Of course the two of _them_ would get wrapped up in something big enough to obliterate a small village while being sent to Just Look And Nothing More. Of _course_.

Sakura refrains from calling out and shouting for them, as much as she wants to. There’s no telling what’s still left in this area. Especially under cover of night.

She approaches the overhang slowly, fists raised and ready, and then she catches a flash of red eyes and the glint of a blade.

“Sasuke?” she calls, very quietly, and walks forward.

It’s him. He seems reluctant to sheathe his blade till she gets close, and it’s not till she ducks out of the rain that she can see that he’s shaking with a potent mixture of exhaustion and pain, blood crusted around his nose and streaked down his cheeks in long tracks even in spite of the rain that slicks his hair across his face, bruises crawling down past his collar.

“Sakura,” he says, calmly as ever, and nods.

“What _happened_ to you?” she asks, wrapping a hand around his forearm. He's got a sprained wrist, that much is clear.

“Later,” Sasuke replies impatiently. “Naruto first.”

Sakura nods, already starting to kneel, and her mind snaps into detached analysis as she takes in Naruto’s prone form.

He’s— halfway _destroyed_. The blood loss goes without saying, but there are second-degree burns all over his body like rashes, and as she directs chakra over his body to take stock, she realizes that these burns are here _in spite of_ the Kyūbi-boosted healing that’s regenerating his cells at a rate somehow even faster than his norm, likely as a response to the trauma.

The burns are bad, and the blood loss is bad, but together they’re terrible; it’s the same thing she saw before, when the Kyūbi tried to break free against Orochimaru and again with Pain. Naruto has had blood boiled straight out of his skin, and what hasn’t been boiled is bruising, badly. He’s got half-healed fractures spidering through half the load-bearing bones in his body, and his metabolism is in wild overdrive trying to heal.

“Oh, Naruto,” Sakura murmurs quietly, steeling herself.

Well. At least she knows what to do. Sakura takes a measured breath, and then she puts everything out of her mind except for the way she’s directing her chakra.

(If she’d lapsed in her focus, at one point, she would have seen Sasuke hesitantly, haltingly reach out and brush hair off of Naruto’s forehead. But Sakura is a stellar medic, and knows better than to mind spectators.)

 

* * *

 

Sasuke is thankfully in less horrific condition than Naruto was, though that’s a low bar. Half his ribcage was not so much broken as it was nearly pulverized, along with an impressive smattering of burns and cuts, and she thanks all the powers that be for Sasuke’s unbelievable stubbornness extending to his health.

“Karin sent word,” Sakura says, finally sitting back, and Sasuke rubs at his no-longer-sprained wrist tenderly. “She says they didn’t find anything new about Edo Tensei, just copies of old records.”

“Kabuto was taking anyone killed _by_ Edo Tensei and resurrecting them _as_ Edo Tensei on the fly. It was fast, precise. I don’t know how similar it was to Orochimaru’s original Edo Tensei jutsu.” Sasuke’s lip curls in distaste. “With this, Kabuto could make an endless army provided he’s got enough of whatever resource it is that he needs aside from corpses and chakra.”

“So the real question is whether he’ll be fighting against Madara, or for him.”

Sasuke shrugs and shakes his head.

“No indication,” he says. “Kabuto seemed to be testing it, more than anything. Where’s Taka now?”

“Heading towards Konoha,” Sakura tells him, and pushes hair out of her face. “I sent word after I got your message. Karin replied with the information about Edo Tensei, and said they were heading back here. She’s angry,” Sakura finishes wryly.

“As long as they’re safe,” Sasuke mutters, and then rolls his shoulders. “If you’re done, let’s go.”

“No,” Sakura replies immediately, taken aback. “With the state you’re in, and us carrying Naruto, we won’t even get inside the borders of Fire Country till nightfall. If we rest today, we’ll be better off tomorrow. And besides, I need to send word to Kakashi, so he can meet us outside the village.”

“No. The closer we move to Konoha now, the better.” Sasuke doesn’t quite meet her eyes as he says this, and when he turns away, Sakura realizes he’s looking down at Naruto.

“Okay,” she says quietly, and lays a hand on his forearm. “Well, I need at least an hour’s rest, and so do you. That’s a medical order. We’ll move out in two hours.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Sasuke says, without looking up, without _arguing_ , and he gently rests his hand on Naruto’s forehead.

Sakura opens her mouth, closes it, takes a seat, and closes her eyes.

“An hour,” she says, and goes the hell to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Naruto comes to slowly. His entire body aches with a slow fire, something he’s only felt a couple of times — but it’s telltale, a sign that only one thing could have happened.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

Whoever it is he’s next to stirs, and then everything hits Naruto all at once: the Edo Tensei, the wrecked village, Kabuto, Sasuke’s face wearing a look of shock—

“Lie _down_ , don’t hurt yourself.” Sasuke sounds cross and tired, but his palm is firm where’s he’s holding Naruto down.

“What happened?” Naruto asks, then lowers his voice. “I mean, after… you know.”

“I stopped you,” Sasuke replies. The pressure of his hand eases, but he doesn’t move it off of Naruto’s chest, and it rests over his heart. “Then I took you and left, and called for Sakura. Kabuto was gone the second you hit four tails.”

Naruto closes his eyes and exhales.

“How many tails before you stopped me?”

“Six.”

“How bad did I hurt you?”

“Could have been worse.”

“Sasuke.”

“I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“That’s not reassuring, you know.” Naruto frowns up at him. Sasuke’s eyes are bruised and creased with strain, tension visible in his brow. “Are you— hey, let me sit up, come on. Wait, you said Sakura? Is she here?”

“On watch, walking a perimeter for us. Kakashi’s coming to meet us.”

Naruto slowly scoots and wriggles his way upright, and then leans his shoulder into Sasuke’s, triumphant when Sasuke shifts his arm to tentatively lie across Naruto’s shoulders, and Naruto lets his heavy, heavy head dip down against Sasuke’s collar.

He absently traces a seam on Sasuke’s thigh, fingertips running down thick cotton, and lets his thoughts whirl. He’s never been good at _sifting_ the way Sasuke and Sakura are, even now that he’s really gotten the hang of meditation, so he waits for things start to settle into place.

A few things drift absently through his mind like a breeze; firstly, the thought of how nice it would be to lean bonelessly into Sasuke and just melt. Get close to that steady heartbeat. Let that one knot of tension in his chest loosen. It’s an urge he’s had a lot, lately. Or maybe he’s been having this urge for a long time, and lately It’s been harder and harder to resist.

Anyways. That’s not relevant.

Super not relevant.

Slowly, he starts working through everything he remembers of the day — or, fuck, how long has it been? He remembers getting to the village with Sasuke for what was supposed to be an easy recon mission while the rest of Taka split off to check out an old Akatsuki base, he remembers seeing the destruction disproportionate to anything they’ve seen so far since Madara declared war, and then the strange, black-eyed, cracked-ash shinobi attacking them, irrefutably controlled by the same jutsu a Konoha border patrol had ran into the previous week. And then Kabuto’s face, and the cold, controlled anger filling Naruto at the sight, and then the Kyūbi’s chakra ripping its way through his veins without any warning—

And then nothing.

He doesn’t know what _happened_. That’s the strangest thing. Because before, with Jiraiya and with Orochimaru and with Pain, that was a loss of control, emotions gone haywire. But this… he doesn’t know. He was angry at the sight of Kabuto’s gross face, sure, but not that angry. He doesn’t _know._

There is someone who might, though.

Naruto sits up a little straighter, grabbing Sasuke’s wrist as Sasuke almost flinches away, instead keeping Sasuke’s arm where it is around Naruto’s shoulders. (Distantly, he thinks, _that’s new_. As if Sasuke is worried Naruto won’t be okay with this, as if Naruto doesn’t drink in these moments of contact like they’re vital to his existence.)

“Hey, remember when me and Sakura and Sai found you at Orochimaru’s base? Way back?” Naruto asks. Sasuke nods slowly in response. “You did some— _thing_ , and then you showed up in the Kyūbi’s, like, space. Can you do that again?”

“You want me to… go in there again?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, with me.”

“I _can_ ,” Sasuke says, and before he can continue on to the obvious question, Naruto finds the tail end of his thought process catching up, words spilling out of his mouth.

“‘Cause, I don’t really know what happened, you know? But _he_ might,” Naruto hedges. “And if something goes wrong, you can help.”

Sasuke looks, of all things, _surprised_. The expression softens out of his face quickly, replaced by thoughtfulness.

“Alright,” Sasuke says, brows drawing together in decision, and the color of his eyes fades out to a deep, warm red.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes, there are moments where Sasuke understands — really understands — the weight of the trust that Naruto has placed in him.

Sasuke has unrestricted access to the Kyūbi, the most powerful of the tailed beasts.

Madara clearly seeks to use the Kyūbi’s power, and Kabuto likely does, and Danzō definitely did, but they don’t know what Sasuke knows, don’t understand what the Fourth had been able to predict about his son: the Kyūbi’s power will be at its peak in tandem with Naruto’s, because Naruto brings out the strength in everyone.

More than that, though, the Kyūbi is a legacy in the same way that the Sharingan is: power at a price, a last reminder of family, one final, lingering connection to something that’s long gone, however terrible it may be. And for this — and for many, many more reasons, some he doesn’t want to examine too closely right now, but especially for this — Sasuke will always protect Naruto’s right to be the Kyūbi jinchūriki. Always.

The Fox’s cage is much as he remembers it: towering bars, ornately carved, and a deceptively simple sealing paper over the seam. The biggest difference, as far as he can tell, is that it’s not dark in here. Not in the same sticky, congealing way, at least. There’s light coming from behind him, soft and cool, but inside the cage itself is dim, filled with an enormous, hulking shadow that approaches the gates.

Naruto’s arm brushes against Sasuke’s as he steps forward, brows drawn, eyes focused. The Kyūbi is nothing more than luminous eyes and sharp teeth bared in a snarl.

This, too, is different: the space is free of whispers tempting Naruto to give in to the Kyūbi, and the chakra that makes up the demon’s presence is carefully condensed, not a lick out of place.

That is, of course, until the Kyūbi growls, and a hot wash of chakra rushes through the bars, almost blistering against skin.

Sasuke cuts in front of Naruto. The Fox’s eyes flash as they track this movement. Behind him, Sasuke feels Naruto bristle, and he holds an arm out to bar Naruto from doing some fool thing that might bring him too close to those teeth.

“What happened?” Sasuke asks the Kyūbi calmly.

“ _You again_ ,” the Kyūbi snarls, low and quiet. “You trust him, Naruto? This child of traitors?”

“With my life,” Naruto snarls back, pushing past Sasuke’s barring arm. Sasuke lunges forward to wrap a hand around Naruto’s bicep, and files two things away for dissection later: the Kyūbi’s comment, and the bloom of warmth in his chest.

“Again,” Sasuke says, voice still even, “what happened? Kabuto did something to you and Naruto, we know that much.”

The Kyūbi snorts out a puff of hot air.

“What happens when you blow air into a balloon?”

“The… what?” Naruto squints up at the Fox. “When you blow air into a balloon, it goes… in the balloon. I don’t get this.”

Sasuke resettles his grip on Naruto’s arm, letting his hand fall down a few inches. He thinks he knows where this is going. The Fox inches closer, lips curled, fangs glinting.

“If you put the balloon under water, then make a hole in it, what happens?”

“The air rushes out,” Sasuke answers over the audible sound of Naruto’s gears grinding, “and then the water rushes in.”

“You’re quick, I’ll give you that,” the Kyūbi rumbles.

“It wasn’t a very good metaphor,” Sasuke says. “The same volume of water wouldn’t enter the balloon. But I understand.”

“I do _not_.” Naruto frowns at Sasuke. “What the hell.”

“His chakra and yours have found a balance,” Sasuke explains. “Right? They push against each other. Sometimes you can use some of his, but never too much. If you do use too much of yours, his comes rushing in.” Sasuke glances at the Kyūbi; he’s hypothesizing at this point. Really, he doesn’t know that much about seals, and even less about tailed beasts, but he can make some guesses. “Kabuto just pushed you to that point without any work on your part.”

“Oh.” Naruto’s frown turns thoughtful. “That… hmm. That’s not good for either of us, is it?” He looks up at the Kyūbi, and the Kyūbi narrows its eyes. “I can’t let that happen again. You’ve hurt Sakura, and you’ve hurt,” Naruto hesitates, “Jiraiya, and this time, you hurt Sasuke. So, I’m not gonna let it happen again.”

The Kyūbi cackles, and it echoes. Naruto doesn’t so much as flinch.

“So open up this seal, little firebrand,” he finally says. “I’ll wipe ‘em all out, then you won’t have anyone to worry about.” The Kyūbi pushes his snout through the bars and leers, teeth bared. “I know you have the key. Use it, and I’ll let you borrow a few tails if you promise to wreck something.”

“That mighta tempted me when I was a kid,” Naruto replies, grinning. “Nice try. Anyways, I’ll repeat myself one last time. I won’t let that happen to you again.” Naruto steps forward, a handspan away from the Kyūbi’s razor-sharp tooth, as long as his arm, and stares him straight in his strangely luminous eyes.

It’s silent for a handful of heartbeats.

“You,” the Kyūbi rumbles, “are very interesting, Uzumaki Naruto.”

 

* * *

 

Sasuke tenses and shifts so his shoulder is in front of Naruto. On Naruto’s other side, he can feel Sakura doing the same. He doesn’t risk glancing at his teammates, just calls up his chakra and colors the world in sharp shades of red.

It’s Kakashi. Sasuke lets himself breathe, then looks at Sakura and nods.

“Yo,” Kakashi says when he’s at an acceptable distance, and raises a hand. “I have a good excuse for being late this time, I promise.”

Sakura heaves out a sigh.

“Oh you do, do you?” she says, at the same time as Naruto grumbles out a good-natured, “Yeah, right.”

“An excellent reason,” Kakashi assures them, and comes to a stop in front of where they’re sitting. From this angle, Kakashi seems just as tall as he had been the first day Sasuke had met him, and Sasuke feels himself fall back a few years in Kakashi’s shadow, back to scrapping in the dirt with Naruto and Sakura at his sides.

“Well?” Naruto prompts, impatient as ever. “C’mon, c’mon.”

Kakashi slides his hands into his pockets, and something softens in his face.

“Tsunade’s awake.”

Sasuke catches movement out of the corner of his eye and looks over to see Sakura slowly bringing her hands up to cover her mouth.

“She’s okay?” Naruto asks, voice small and strangled. Sasuke touches his forearm; Naruto’s wide eyes flash over to him before flicking back to Kakashi.

“She’s fine,” Kakashi says warmly. “Still inhaling food, I bet, but she’s fine.”

Sakura lets out a choked-sounding noise of relief and collapses against Naruto’s side, hands balling up into fists in his cloak. Sasuke moves his hand from Naruto’s forearm to her shoulder, arm brushing against Naruto’s back, and for a second they just _exist,_ relief coursing through them, Sasuke offering himself as a grounding point. Naruto rubs a circle into Sakura’s back.

“She is, however,” Kakashi continues, “retiring.”

What.

“ _What?_ ” Sakura gasps. “This— but the Council specifically avoided naming a new Hokage so the title would be hers! What’s going to happen now?”

The obvious outcome settles in the pit of Sasuke’s stomach, flooding him with bewildering shock.

“No,” Sasuke says slowly, staring up at Kakashi. “No way.”

“ _What?_ ” Naruto almost shouts in exasperated confusion. “What do you mean? Who’s the new Hokage?”

Kakashi lifts his eye up to the sky, and looks for all the world like he’s dreading the next thing he has to say.

“It’s me.”

Hearing the words out loud makes it no easier for Sasuke to wrap his head around the concept.

Sakura, surprisingly, is the first to recover.

“Oh, Kakashi-sensei—” She scrambles to her feet and throws her arms around him, squeezing. Kakashi gently pats her atop the head.

“Hey, now. Don’t break my ribs.”

Naruto tenses. Sasuke grabs a fistful of his cloak.

“Don’t stand, you’re still injured,” Sasuke snaps. “Kakashi—” He blinks. He is honestly, truly at a loss for words.

“Let me up, you bastard, I swear—” Naruto takes Sasuke’s lapse in attention as an opportunity to yank himself out of Sasuke’s grip and he launches himself upright with a bright laugh, pausing to wince before barreling into Kakashi for a hug next to Sakura. “Holy _shit!_ ”

Sasuke finds himself on his feet after Naruto, still aching, stuck in an awkward half-lunge forward as he watches Naruto and Sakura laugh, firmly squeezing Kakashi.

The _Hokage_.

“Come on, you too,” Kakashi says, and tips his head at Sasuke. Sasuke stays frozen until Sakura’s hand yanks him forward straight into Naruto, and he feels Kakashi’s hand come up around his shoulder to pat him on the back.

“I’m the Hokage’s student,” Naruto crows triumphantly, and disentangles himself just enough to punch the air.

“We all are,” Sasuke corrects, and even at this distance, he can tell Kakashi is smiling.

“Oh, Kakashi,” Sakura sighs again, stepping back and clasping her hands to her chest, “congratulations. Really. This is amazing.”

“Students of the Hokage,” Naruto repeats, satisfied and happy, and slings an arm around Sasuke and Sakura both as he finally lets go of Kakashi. “Hey, we could be the next legendary three now.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Kakashi says, raising his eyebrow. “I’ve got more news, after all.”

“What’s going on?” Sasuke asks.

“News from Kumo. The other jinchūriki has offered to train you, Naruto.”

“Train me? Like, jinchūriki stuff?”

“Yep,” Kakashi replies, and shrugs offhandedly. “Pretty timely offer, all things considered. Kumo has a strategically remote location they use for training. Killer B finally contacted the Raikage some time ago, and after some discussion, Kumo and Lightning Country have sent us — _you_ — a formal invitation.”

Words catch in Sasuke’s throat, uncomfortable collisions of things he doesn’t know how to say as he watches the excitement grow on Naruto’s face.

“And for that matter,” Kakashi continues, “Sasuke, you have been formally pardoned, and you’re welcome in Konoha and in Fire Country as you please. You have relinquished your title of Konoha shinobi, though. If you’d like that reinstated we can make that happen, but I won’t force it on you.”

Suddenly, all of those words in his throat disappear, and Sasuke is left with an all-consuming blankness. Funnily enough, the only thought that surfaces coherently is _but I lost my hitai-ate years ago_.

“Think about it,” Kakashi adds, and pats Sasuke’s shoulder kindly.

“This,” Naruto says, very seriously, staring from Kakashi to Sasuke and back in wide-eyed wonder, “is the best day _ever._ ”

“I— wait, what about Kumo?” Sakura asks. “Naruto, are you—?”

“Well, I gotta go,” Naruto says, and half-shrugs. “If it’s jinchūriki stuff, you know, that’s super important. Especially after this. But—” He looks at Sasuke with a contemplative day to his posture, and then his shoulders straighten, and oh _no_ , Sasuke will have absolutely none of that.

“Then go,” he says. “I’ll keep tracking skirmishes and looking for Kabuto with Taka.”

“Actually,” Kakashi says, in _that voice_ , “Kumo’s letter welcomed an accompaniment. Almost requested it, really. Good diplomatic relations. And the more people we have protecting the last two jinchūriki, the better.”

Sasuke’s head is starting to throb dully with the sheer amount of turns this conversation has taken in the past five minutes. It might be the injuries catching up to him, but it’s more likely this conversation.

Naruto grabs his arm, fingers like a too-warm vice through Sasuke’s shirt.

“You’re gonna—”

“Of course I’ll go with you.”

“Thought so,” Naruto says smugly, and relaxes his grip. “Great. So when do we leave?”

“Okay, wait,” Sakura cuts back in, “Naruto, you are in serious need of rest, and since I’m the closest thing you have to a primary physician, I’m vetoing travel for at _least_ the next week.”

“But—”

“ _No_ ,” Sakura growls, and Naruto deflates visibly under her glare. Sasuke smirks at him.

It gets more or less settled, after that, between the inevitable descent into bickering; they’ll send word back to Kumo, and Sasuke will rendezvous with Taka in the meantime to keep an eye on the borders while staying as close to Konoha as they’re comfortable. When Kumo sends a go-ahead, they’ll travel up the coast together.

It’s a good plan. A surprisingly good one. And as much dread is pooling in his stomach at the prospect of the conversation he’s about to start, Sasuke is looking forward to the future.

 

* * *

 

Sakura knows, instinctively, immediately, that there’s going to be trouble when Sasuke asks to speak with her alone, and his face is terrifyingly expressionless.

“Sakura,” Sasuke says, evenly, like he’s talking about the weather, “I’ve lost my eyesight almost entirely.”

Sakura feels ice rush through her veins.

“I– Sasuke,” she says weakly, “holy shit.”

Sasuke holds up a hand to interrupt any further comment and says, “Can you check to see what it is that’s going on in my eyes?”

“Yeah.” Sakura’s ribcage feels much too tight. “Of course. Um—“ She exhales. Fuck. Okay. “Alright. I’m— I’m going to do a chakra exam on your eyes, then. This’ll probably feel unpleasant, and I’m sorry, but I won’t know what to do unless I know what it is that’s going on.”

“Okay,” Sasuke says. His face is still carefully composed in that terrible, expressionless mask.

“Sit down,” Sakura instructs. “Chin up, eyes open.”

Sasuke complies, and Sakura directs a stream of chakra to her fingertips before taking a steadying breath and then touching his temples. Okay. Blood pressure feels good, heartbeat slightly elevated; that’s to be expected. Intraocular pressure is normal. No irritation, no inflammation.

“I’m going to press under your eye,” Sakura warns, and moves her thumb. “It’ll be uncomfortable.” She applies steady pressure at the edge of his eye socket and with the change in angle her chakra slides past the coronea, up against the ora serrata. So far, so good, so _confusing_. There’s little chance it’s psychosomatic myopia – if it was, Sakura gets the feeling she’d know – and she hasn’t found anything so far, other than the entirely expected, _incredibly_ complex chakra network. “There’s no litera— there’s no research or reports on how the Sharingan works that was written by an Uchiha, is there?”

“No,” Sasuke answers, a little curtly.

“Yeah, I thought so. Hinata told me that everything about the Byakugan is passed down by word of mouth. I figured it was the same for you, too.” She sighs. Back to her careful search.

Past the ora, onto the retina, and it’s— it’s almost a mess. Almost. The blood vessels and chakra pathways are so incredibly dense; she can’t imagine how much visual information such structures must be capable of capturing and processing. But— hmm. She guides more chakra through her fingers. _That_. There.

“Look up? Up and to the right.” Okay. Okay. That’s something. That’s… something that she desperately hopes she’s wrong about. “Up and to the left. Down and to the left. Down and to the right.”

Sakura sighs and leans back. From here, she’s still close enough that Sasuke’s eyes focus on her, and it breaks her heart.

“Just say it,” Sasuke says.

“You have tears in your retina,” Sakura says bluntly.

Silence rings.

“Your chakra network is so closely mapped to your retina that every time you channel chakra through your eyes, it’s quite literally burning holes in them. I– frankly, I don’t know how much longer your retina can hold up under the strain, and a retinal detachment in your case – your family’s, I mean – might be utterly irreversible.” She exhales, and a knot of emotion twists in her stomach. “I’m sorry, Sasuke.”

Sasuke closes his eyes, briefly, then takes a measured breath and stands.

“I need to talk to Karin.” Sakura opens her mouth, and he continues. “I’m not upset with you. I need to ask her something, and then I need to ask you both something.”

“Sasuke—”

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” Sasuke says, and unexpectedly, he rests a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezes. “Let me talk to Karin, and then I’ll send you a message by hawk before Naruto leaves for Lightning County.”

“I– yeah, of course, anything you need, but— Sasuke, have you told Naruto?”

Sasuke looks away from her at that, casting his eyes to the side.

“I have. He’s the one who— _suggested_ I talk to you.”

“Of course he is,” Sakura says, feeling a wobbly smile spread across her face. “You know we’re all here for you, right? Anything you need.”

“I’m told,” Sasuke replies, smiling faintly, “that that’s what friends are for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the part where everything happens. this is that part.
> 
> but uh, yeah, shoutout to fanfiction for letting me project my issues onto fictional characters! fun fact, the condition where you're prone to having tears in your retina is called lattice degeneration, and sakura's inspection was basically a play-by-play of the way a retina specialist looks at the back of your eye (except obviously not using chakra, but rather with a light and a magnifying lens).
> 
> in any case, thanks (as always) for all of the really lovely comments! it means a lot to me :')


	14. xiv. fifteen months, four days since the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> put! more! killer! bee! in! your! fics! you! fools!

“Oh! I’m s-sorr—”

“Aw, shit, sorry—”

“ _—oh_ , um, hi, Naruto—”

Naruto blinks.

“Hinata!” He makes sure she’s steady on her feet, then lets go of her. “Wow, what are _you_ doing up at this time of night?”

Hinata shrugs her shoulders up so her scarf bunches up around her nose, and her eyes crinkle up in a small, shy smile.

“I, um, I really like fall nights, and it’s- it’s so clear out. Nice for taking walks.”

“Oh.” Naruto glances upwards. “Wow. It really is, huh.”

“What are you- um, you doing? I thought you were leaving.”

“Yeah, uh—” Naruto runs a hand through his hair. “I am. Tomorrow, actually. Well, today, I guess. In a few hours. I dunno, I couldn’t sleep.”

Couldn’t sleep. It’s a convenient excuse in the face of the fact that Naruto doesn’t even really know how to wrap his head around everything he’s feeling. He’s so lost he nearly ran headlong into Hinata, for fuck’s sake. But at least blaming it on a simple inability to sleep is a convenient out.

“You could— come on a walk with me? If- if you like,” Hinata says, and her voice is warm through the cold air.

“Oh. Uh— _man_.”

“Not– not like that!” Hinata says all in a rush, taking a step back. “I-I didn’t mean romantically or- or- or anything, I, oh, wow, I don’t—”

“ _Oh_ , no, it’s okay, I didn’t even think you meant— I actually just—” Naruto huffs out a breath. “I just. Man, I don’t really feel great, you know? I got some stuff on my mind.”

“Ah,” Hinata replies, softly, and then she’s quiet for a few moments. “That’s why I, um, take walks, actually. Especially when the unification negotiations are- are getting convoluted. It’s- it’s too much and I k-kinda wanna just itch right out of my skin and—” She shrugs, a little helplessly. “B-but, I hope you feel better. And please, um, tell Jūgo and Sasuke that I say hi.”

“Yeah! Yeah, I will,” Naruto says, and he feels like he’s slowly filling with static as Hinata gently pats him on the shoulder, smiles, and continues her walk.

He can’t wait to leave Konoha.

That’s the whole problem.

Five— four? months ago, he’d expected to come home after the Kage Summit feeling triumphant, accomplished, ready to face whatever it is that Madara plans to throw at them.

Instead, he’d walked through the gates and into his village for the first time in nearly ten months feeling hollow and uneasy, full of an uncomfortable doubt that settled on his tongue like lead.

Five months of being in Konoha and knowing the truth about the blood that’s been spilled here.

It’s unbearable.

At first, the scouting missions with Team Taka had been for old times’ sake, he’d told himself; because life was kinda weird without Sasuke to trade barbs with, without Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu to commiserate with. But the relief, he’d realized, came not from seeing his friends, but with leaving Konoha behind.

And it _fucking hurts_. All his life he’s loved Konoha in spite of the way everyone hated him, whispered about him, took away every chance he could have had, and now there’s nothing but a bitter taste like betrayal, choking him. For all these months he’s been chafing under the feeling, and now he can’t wait to leave.

Worst of all, there’s a guilty helplessness he can’t shake. He should _do_ something about this. He should make it right. But there are so many pieces in motion, so many things to consider, far from the least of which are Sasuke’s feelings, and it’s utterly paralyzing.

And so he walks, filled with guilt and inaction, and passes the time trying to silence the thoughts banging around in this head about Konoha, about Kumo’s jinchūriki, about Sasuke, about the surgery, about _everything_ , until dawn breaks and he can finally leave. 

 

* * *

 

A hawk lands on the railing of the ferry, inches from where Naruto is leaning against it. It’s young — or small? — but keen-eyed, and with wickedly sharp talons. It screeches, then shuffles its wings, and cocks its head at Naruto.

Naruto lets himself go still, dips into that deep reservoir of meditation, and just as he can start to sense the life thrumming through the bird, he feels the huge, roaring heatsink of energy within Jūgo approaching.

“It’s an osprey,” Jūgo explains, and holds his hand out. The osprey hops up onto his wrist, then flutters up to his shoulder. “We must be getting close. They're not sea birds, they live on land. Are you alright, Naruto?”

“I— what?”

“You haven’t been yourself. Are you alright?”

Naruto watches him for a few heartbeats, tries to track an eddy of energy that swirls deep into Jūgo’s core, and then he sighs and drapes himself further over the railing.

“Dunno. Things have been kinda weird lately, you know?”

“Are you worried about Sasuke?”

“I— shit, I mean, _yeah_ , but that’s not all.”

Jūgo is quiet, but it’s not the bad kind of quiet, the kind Naruto associates with being a kid and getting in trouble for _existing_ or whatever and having some adult wait for him to confess to whatever it is he was supposed to have done. Naruto likes Jūgo a lot, for this reason. The silences let him think.

“How can people – a village – learn from their mistakes if no one even knows those mistakes were made?”

Jūgo looks down at him, brows lightly drawn in contemplation, and the osprey on his shoulder starts to preen itself with sharp, precise movements.

“You mean Konoha?”

“Yeah.” Naruto crosses his arms on the railing and hunches over. The sea breeze stings his face, but it’s refreshing in spite of how cold it is.

“I don’t know,” Jūgo says, slowly, but not dismissively.

“None of this shit should have ever happened in the first place. I dunno how people thought it was okay to do any of that. Not just the, you know, the massacre, but... other stuff too. I just don’t know what to do, you know? And now there’s this war, and— I’m worried it’ll all get buried again.”

“I wonder, sometimes, what would have happened in my own village,” Jūgo says after a pause, “if everyone had been shown the same kindness that Kimimaro showed me. Or that Sasuke’s shown me. Or you, or Karin, or even Suigetsu. We were so wrapped up in the thought that we couldn’t control this that we didn’t try for other solutions. And maybe that’s the reason I snapped. Maybe it’s not. Maybe I would have snapped even if I’d had a friend like Kimimaro. But I think teaching kindness can teach people to recognize when something’s wrong, and find a better path to fixing it.”

Huh.

... _Huh_.

Naruto stares out over the sea, turning this idea over in his head. Jūgo squeezes his shoulder, and he watches the waves fly past till his eyes blur.

 

* * *

 

Sasuke is starting to wonder whether there’s a particular type of personality, or soul, or something that makes a jinchūriki suitable to being what they are. Because so far, Gaara, Naruto, and Killer Bee, as wildly different as they all are, have also been _scarily_ alike in several ways.

Naruto had barreled his way off of the ferry after seeing the Hachibi brush away that giant squid like paper, and the rest of them have followed at a slightly more polite pace, waiting for some of the Kumo shinobi accompanying them on the ferry to gather up the supplies they’d been transporting as well.

It’s the sound of Naruto talking a mile a minute that greets them first, and Sasuke’s first impression of Killer Bee is— well, impressive. He’s genuinely listening as Naruto talks, nodding, fingers tapping out a quiet rhythm on his thigh, short little staccato sounds that nearly match the pace that Naruto is talking at.

(Sasuke realizes, dimly, distantly, that the scale on which he has evaluated adults for most of his life is perhaps a little skewed. But growing up with adults simpering over him being a poor sad child and growing up with adults being needlessly cruel to Naruto and knowing adults who wanted to use and manipulate and discard, the simple sight of someone _listening_ with genuine interest is borderline revolutionary.)

Bee is _older_ , too, which Sasuke thinks maybe shouldn’t have been a surprise. Though, granted, the only other jinchūriki he knows are his age, so he forgives himself for the shortsightedness in this regard. He seems older than Kakashi, a little more stocky, with what look to be a myriad of swords sheathed on his waist, but on his back is something big and bulky, something—

“That’s— that’s _Samehada!_ But _how?”_

Suigetsu is sputtering, and it’s frankly positively comical.

“Akatsuki didn’t have shit on me. Float like a butterfly, sting you like a Killer Bee — see, that’s my tagline, hook and sinker, no time to blink or you’re dead.”

Bee grins cheekily. Sasuke gets the immediate, unshakeable feeling that he and Naruto are going to cause a hell of a lot of trouble together.

Excellent.

“I’m Sasuke,” he says, letting a smile pull at his mouth, “and that’s Suigetsu. He’s got a thing about swords.”

“A thing about— Sasuke, that’s _fucking Samehada_ , do you know what that means?”

“Yes. It means Kisame is dead, and you’re gonna either fight or beg Bee for the sword.”

Suigetsu dissolves back into wordless sputtering as Karin laughs and cuts in.

“I’m Karin,” she says.

“Red red red, love that color on your head,” Bee replies, and holds out a fist. Karin hesitates, then taps her fist against his, and Bee grins brilliantly again. “Love it on your head and in your heart, I can tell that you’re smart and all about that medical art, keeping every friend from hanging on by a thread, don’t want anyone dead.”

“Yeah, well, I _try_ ,” Karin mutters dramatically, and Bee claps her on the shoulder.

Jūgo introduces himself next with his name and a nod, and Bee wordlessly asks him for a fist bump too.

“Ooh! I can see it inside you, true power that you share in an hour of need. I’m gonna love this new crew,” Bee says, and crosses his arms as he surveys the group. “But I heard the word that we got some shit to take care of, things we might be scared of, gotta start this trip with a complication, ain’t that the situation?”

“Yes,” Sasuke replies, amid his surprise that Bee is just— cutting right to it. Maybe the surprise is a sign that he’s more anxious about this than he thought. “Karin and Sakura will be performing a surgery on me tomorrow. Sakura— I think she’s still on the boat, talking to the Kumo shinobi.”

Naruto shifts his weight. Even as blurry as everything is, it’s the visual equivalent of deafening. Bee turns and pats Naruto on the shoulder.

“I can see you got a lot on your mind with his surgery — and afterwards when we’re all worry-free, you and me, we’ll do some training, just us jinchūriki.”

Sasuke expects Naruto to rise up and declare that he’s ready to start immediately, no need to put it off, but instead, Naruto thinks so hard that his gears grind audibly, and finally he brightens.

“Yeah yeah, you know, him and— uh, me, we go way back, ya see, so I gotta worry, about— uh— _he!_ ”

A pause.

And then both Suigetsu and Karin dissolve into gut-wrenching laughter, doubling over, but it’s out of genuine delight and not mockery, and Sasuke finds himself smiling helplessly as even Jūgo starts laughing, shoulders shaking.

“You’ve got a way to go, Niner,” Bee replies, grinning again, “though it coulda been finer we’ll work to make it shine or even glow, _you know_.”

“Yeah, Naruto, you know,” Sasuke adds, nudging him, and Naruto’s face is an interesting shade of pink as he laughs along.

“‘Naruto, you know,’” Bee repeats. “Now that’s some flow.”

And Sasuke feels, once again, that same peculiar feeling he’s been trying to get used to: he’s looking forward to the future.

 

* * *

 

Sasuke braces his hands against the bathroom sink and leans forward until his nose is just barely brushing against the mirror.

The next time he looks at himself, it will be through Itachi’s eyes.

It’s a strange thought. Not something he can quite get his mind wrapped around just yet. He closes his eyes, exhales, leans back, and then opens his eyes again to regard the blobby smudge in the mirror, a smear of pale face and dark hair and white shirt.

Instead of wrestling (again) with the idea that he’ll be getting _Itachi’s eyes_ transplanted into him, Sasuke turns his mental energy to letting himself feel gratitude. Without Karin and her quick thinking over a year ago, Itachi’s eyes would still be in Madara’s hands. Likely as a bargaining chip. And without Naruto’s bullheaded resolve to catch him— no Kakashi, no Sakura, no Gaara, no allies in Konoha, no friends across countries, no one to fight alongside him against Danzō and now Madara. No one to knock it into his head that he’s allowed to depend on others, that that’s its own form of power.

(He wonders, sometimes, in the dead of night, what it is that Naruto sees in him. What Naruto – Naruto, who feels with his entire being, who connects effortlessly with people, who loves recklessly and fully, who could have his pick of any friends in the world – could _possibly_ see as being worthwhile in Sasuke. Sasuke knows what he is: obsessive, stubborn, cold, prone to isolation, willing to go to extremes in a way entirely different from Naruto.)

(But he tries his best to banish these thoughts. They’re not productive. Maybe before, years ago, he was capable of using that dialogue to fool himself into a sense of superiority, to justify trying to wipe Naruto out of his mind and his life. He knows better, now.)

Sasuke sighs, and runs a hand down his face.

Two hours until the surgery.

 

* * *

 

Naruto corners him, of course. He’s nervous, and attempting to cover it with a barrage of questions, but—

“It doesn’t work like that, Naruto,” Sasuke says, with familiar exasperation and impatience. “Everything further away than a handspan is just blurry, and after a distance I can’t even see shapes. Not double-vision. I’m not drunk.”

“Wait— so then how close do I have to be for you to see me clearly?”

Naruto moves forward, pausing between each step as he inches towards Sasuke. Sasuke stands his ground with patience, watching Naruto’s face as it slowly, slowly comes into focus. Naruto slows in his approach the closer he gets, and Sasuke holds up a hand when his vision finally focuses.

“Really?” Naruto asks, softly, from mere centimeters away, well past acceptable bounds of personal space, and a slow spark of _something_ rolls between them, heavy with potential.

“If you moved closer I’d see better, but this is enough for me to see clearly,” Sasuke replies, and regrets it almost instantly as Naruto moves even closer. It takes their noses brushing for Naruto to seem to realize just how close he is.

“Oh,” Naruto says quietly. “Are you worried? About the surgery?”

Their noses brush again. Sasuke feels every nerve in his body fray as his self-control is tested. He doesn’t even know what it is he’s trying to stop himself from doing, only that he knows he shouldn’t.

“No. I trust Sakura and Karin. They’ll be great.”

“Yeah, they will be,” Naruto agrees, and beams. From this close, Sasuke can see as his eyes light up, and the air stops dead in his lungs.

“What? What’s that face? Am I too close?” Naruto’s quizzical frown is— fuck. It’s so fucking endearing. “I kinda am, huh.”

“You _could_ move,” Sasuke finds himself saying, much more calmly than he feels. “It’s not like I can’t imagine what faces you’re making when you talk. Not that it’ll matter soon, anyways.”

“Isn’t it weird to think you’re just gonna have someone else’s _eyeballs_ shoved into you?”

“That’s gross. Don’t phrase it that way.”

“Oh, _scuse_ me—” Naruto gestures loftily. “Does it, ahem, freak you out that you’re gonna get a _complete ocular transplant?”_

Sasuke snorts, and finally takes a step back, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, actually. I don’t— I think. He gave me. His eyes. Intentionally.” The words come out jerky, hoarse. “During the massacre— he could have taken spares. But. He didn’t.”

Sasuke leaves it unspoken. Naruto doesn’t.

“He was your spare,” Naruto’s voice is gentle. “Man, the way our families leave us things can be really fucked up, huh?”

“It would be nice to have a choice sometimes,” Sasuke says, wryly, bitterly. And then he checks himself. “No. Since— Itachi’s death, I feel like I’ve been making my own choices for the first time in my life. Not dictated by revenge or family obligation. Except this. It’s frustrating.”

Naruto is quiet for a beat, thinking.

“Did I ever tell you that Tsunade banned me from using Rasengan?”

“I’m shocked,” Sasuke snorts, and rolls his eyes. “How much havoc did you wreak?”

“No, seriously. I made Rasenshuriken, right? Turns out, something about the wind release makes it shred through things at a microscopic level. But that meant me too. So because of the damage I’d cause myself, she banned me from using it.” Naruto flexes his hand, then closes it slowly into a fist. “I didn’t know what to do with myself. My dad’s jutsu – ‘course, I didn’t know yet that the Fourth was my _dad_ , but you know – my special jutsu, taught to me by Jiraiya, and... nothing. Impossible to use without ripping my own arm apart. It felt like everything had been pointless, you know?”

Sasuke waits for the inevitable _but_.

“ _But_ ,” Naruto says, “turns out, senjutsu is a way of healing yourself when you’re using it. So with senjutsu chakra, I wouldn’t have the problem. And that was something I got from Jiraiya and my dad too, you know. So maybe— fuck, I dunno.” He shrugs, a big, helpless movement. “I dunno what I’m trying to say.”

“No, I— thank you,” Sasuke says. “I didn’t know that. And it… does make me feel better.” He can feel his face heating. _Why_ is he terrible with words when it matters.

“I guess– we hit roadblocks, you know? And even when it feels like we’re helpless, the choice is in what we do with the roadblocks. You could always–” Naruto pauses, awkwardly. “You could _not_. Get the transplant, I mean. You’d still be a badass shinobi, you’d just have to change up how you approach stuff.”

“I think,” Sasuke says, very slowly, “that I do want this. I think you’re right.”

It’s quiet for a moment as Naruto takes in his words, and then Naruto laughs quietly.

“Okay, good. My blabbering helped,” he says, and smiles, a little self-consciously. He’s still _so close_ to Sasuke, so infuriatingly close.

“It always helps.”

“Guess I’ll keep it up, then.”

Sasuke can read the expressions swimming across Naruto’s face, this close, and in spite of the lightness of his voice, there’s nothing but concern in his face.

“I’m going to be fine, Naruto. Sakura and Karin wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.”

“I know,” Naruto sighs. “It’s just– you know.”

And with that Naruto gently touches under Sasuke’s eye with his thumb, broad palm brushing against his cheek, fingertips coming to rest lightly on his neck, and Sasuke can’t stop the half-sharp inhale at the touch. And then—

It’s like a static shock in reverse. Or something. For one heartbeat, for one fraction of a second, their pulses align, and and unidentifiable _something_ passes between them, pulling at the space between Sasuke’s ribs with its own gravity.

Sasuke flinches. The sensation is that much of a surprise. And for a split second Naruto’s eyes fill with something blank and dark but Sasuke brings his hand up before he can even act consciously, and he touches the back of Naruto’s wrist, gently.

Naruto smiles. Sasuke physically feels something melt in his chest.

Oh yes. He is so fucked.

 

* * *

 

“Hey.” Karin’s voice is raspy with sleep; Naruto turns his head and squints across the dim room to see her standing in the doorway, wearing a shirt that must be Jūgo’s over some worn leggings. “Did he wake up?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke replies before Naruto can.

Karin steps into the room, takes off her glasses, and scrubs a hand down her face. It’s late – it’s really damn late – but it seems Karin’s gotten at least _some_ rest. She yawns, and seconds later it spreads to Naruto, and he feels his jaw pop.

“Alright,” Karin says at the tail end of her yawn, “lemme take a look.”

Naruto doesn’t move as he watches her pull her hair back, wash her hands, and pull on a clean white medic’s haori. The body heat creeping off of Sasuke isn’t doing anything to help how helplessly _sleepy_ Naruto is, nor is the exceptionally comfortable way he’s sitting, leaning forward in the rickety chair with his arms crossed on Sasuke’s bed, face pillowed on an elbow.

“How do you feel?” Karin asks Sasuke, rolling forward on her stool to the other side of the bed.

“Fine. The pain is manageable.”

“Okay, well, you better say something if it’s not,” Karin says, and glares at him automatically before realizing the futility of it. Naruto feels a tired laugh bubble up out of his chest, and Karin turns her glare to him before looking back at her patient. “I’m going to touch your temples now. Same check as before.”

Naruto watches Sasuke’s hand tense and curl slowly into the sheets, inches from his nose, and covers it with his own.

“How’s Sakura?” Naruto asks Karin, watching her face with one half-open eye. Her brows are drawn in focus.

“Asleep,” Karin replies after a bit, and leans away from Sasuke. “I won’t lie, this was fucking _hard_. I’ve heard stories of transplants done on the field and I can’t imagine the complications. You’re doing fine, though,” she reassures Sasuke, and rests a hand on his forehead, careful not to disturb his dressings. Sasuke visibly relaxes. “Your chakra network is already reforming, and it’s doing so through the optic nerve and around the retina in such a way that it won’t create that same pattern of degeneration. I can't say for sure until your chakra network regrows at _least_ to the ora serrata, but I think you’ll be fine. Kekkei genkai are weird like that.”

Sasuke’s free hand searches for Karin, finds her forearm, and squeezes.

“Thank you,” he says, low and quiet.

“All in a day’s work,” Karin sighs, and yawns again, jaw cracking. “I’m going the fuck back to sleep. Naruto, if you’re sleeping here, I don’t wanna hear a thing about a crick in your neck tomorrow.”

Naruto’s eyelids are like lead, now, and he can't bring himself to answer with anything other than a noncommittal grunt. Karin swats at his head as she scoots the stool back and shuffles toward the door, but it’s so gentle that it’s more of a hair-ruffle than anything.

Sasuke’s hand is still cool underneath his.

“Go to bed,” Sasuke mutters.

“S’fine,” Naruto mumbles back. “‘d’rather stay here, anyways.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause you’re my friend, asshole. I like being around you.” A pause. “‘N’I got super comfy here, don’t wanna move.”

“Whatever,” Sasuke murmurs, voice warm, and he doesn’t protest further.

 

* * *

 

When Naruto wakes up in the morning, there’s a blanket draped around his shoulders, and Sasuke’s hand is wrapped tightly around his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, i had SO MUCH FUN writing bee, and more people should do it. you hear me? more killer bee. i demand it


	15. xv. fifteen months, one week, six days since the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh geeze, i genuinely did not intend to Not Post for this long. my bad! i have a lot a lot a lot of things i want to cover during this general chunk of time so hopefully between all the other stuff i've got goin on, i can get these chapters cranked out (and _posted_ , yeesh) in a fairly timely manner.

“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”

“ _Karin—_ ”

“Holy shit, come on—”

“Eye surgery,” Karin shouts. “ _Eye surgery!_ A week ago! And you want to _spar?_ ”

“Yes,” Sasuke snaps emphatically at the same time that Naruto shouts back, “ _Obviously!_ ”

“I— no!” Karin gestures wildly.

“We’re not idiots,” Naruto counters hotly. “I’m not gonna grind Sasuke’s face in the dirt.” He pauses. “Well, metaphorically, obviously—” He throws Sasuke a grin, and Sasuke rolls his eyes in response. “—but seriously, you said he’s healing up really well and so did Sakura before she left, and I’m dying for a good spar and Sasuke’s the best for sparring and I’m starting the jinchūriki training soon and I dunno when I’ll get another chance and it’s been _so long_ since Sasuke and I sparred. C’ _mon_ ,” he wheedles. “If there’s any sign of anything weird, we’ll stop immediately.”

“I won’t use Sharingan at all, if that makes you happy,” Sasuke adds, and Karin’s frown lessens. Slightly. “I don’t need it to beat Naruto.”

“We will fucking see about that,” Naruto fires back immediately.

Karin crosses her arms and inhales. Sasuke finds himself holding his breath.

“Only,” Karin starts, “ _only_ if you’re both sensible about it and let me know immediately if your vision does anything unusual.”

Naruto jumps up and punches the air with a whoop, and Sasuke has barely enough time to break into a smile before Naruto tackles him headlong, launching them both into the hallway.

“Thanks,” Sasuke has the grace to shout back at Karin, and then he uses his momentum to kick Naruto off of him further down the hallway, tumbling back to his feet.

“You have no idea how boring it got sparring with everyone but you,” Naruto says, bounding towards the door, and then he pauses— Sasuke overshoots him, misjudging the change in rhythm, and in the split second it takes him to correct his momentum, Naruto plows a foot into his ribs before laughing gleefully and zooming through the door.

It feels like they’re twelve again, and Sasuke realizes he’s still smiling as he chases the sound of Naruto’s laughter.

 

* * *

 

A spar without Sharingan should, in theory, be easier than a spar without perfect eyesight.

But Sasuke has gotten used to relying on the flood of extra information that Sharingan awards him, and fighting without it is actually... an incredibly welcome challenge.

Naruto is fast. It’s not new, but Sasuke feels it very keenly right now, as he lets the blocks and blows flow between them in easy movements, so familiar they feel almost choreographed. And the thing about deteriorating eyesight – he realizes now that there are patterns of familiarity mapped onto him, that there is knowledge of the shape and weight of things written into every one of his movements, and for a few seconds, just to try it, Sasuke closes his eyes.

Forearm to forearm— shoulder here, chest _there_ , knuckles connecting with Naruto’s sternum— Naruto’s palm pushing away his wrist— enough momentum to step through and grab and that’s Naruto’s waist, not his hips, hands further down and _push_ with his shoulder, pull with a foot, and Sasuke opens his eyes in time to see the look of surprise on Naruto’s face as his back hits the dirt.

“Hey, what the fuck,” Naruto says. Sasuke holds a hand out to him and Naruto takes it, still frowning as Sasuke helps pull him up. “You trying to show off, sparring with your eyes closed?”

Sasuke shrugs.

“I wanted to see what kind of difference it makes,” he says. “We’ve been at this for, what, a decade? More? There isn’t a single person whose tells I know better than yours, eyes closed or not.”

Naruto’s frown turns thoughtful, and then he laughs.

“Wait, wait– are you trying to tell me I’m predictable?”

“Maybe,” Sasuke replies, and smirks.

“I’ll show you predictable,” Naruto says, and a wild grin spreads across his face, so painfully familiar, and Sasuke feels his own smile grow in response.

Naruto creates a handful of clones, and sets a smug look on his face.

“Groundbreaking,” Sasuke tells him, shifting his weight back onto his left side.

“It sure as hell is,” Naruto replies, and then the ground beneath Sasuke’s feet trembles, and Sasuke has a moment of disorientation as his brain rapidly tries to remind him of something, _something_ , and then two clones burst up out of the ground, fists aiming for Sasuke’s chest.

The spar dissolves into something faster, then, out of familiar territory and into something much more closely resembling an actual fight. Sasuke had mostly been teasing Naruto; aside from the overuse of Rasengan and his shadow clones, Naruto is far from predictable, and decidedly clever enough to work any situation to his advantage. It keeps Sasuke sharp, keeps him thinking of new ways to get Naruto to exhaust himself to a point where Sasuke can take advantage of it, but this time, he can’t quite think of what to do other than his usual series of barrages.

And then Sasuke has the idea.

It’s— probably dumb, but it hits him, and almost instantly he becomes more curious about whether or not it’ll work than anything else.

He feints to get Naruto to block him, and as Naruto’s hand snaps out in that automatic movement, Sasuke catches it against his own, pushes Naruto’s wrist half into a lock, shoves his fingers between Naruto’s to form a seal, and pulls on a thread of chakra.

Except instead of just a thread, he gets a flood. Naruto jumps as if he’s been electrocuted. Sasuke pulls his hand away.

Well, it hasn’t _not_ worked yet. It might have been an unexpected amount of chakra, but Sasuke feels the telltale sensation of mounting potential.

That was ox. Hare is next. He tricks Naruto into this one, too, and again there’s that sensation, like a wave crashing against rocks, like storm surge in the fall.

Next. Monkey. Easier.

Naruto catches on as their hands part, chakra surging again, and he immediately switches to blows dealt mostly with his feet, half indignant and half gleeful now that he’s got a new game of keep-away to play. The itch of chakra under Sasuke’s skin grows and grows with each time he manages to grab Naruto’s hand and every time, there’s that same synapse-shock, like two circuits connecting.

They tumble ass over teakettle and Naruto is doing his best to work him way away but Sasuke is determined now, _so determined_ , and he slams Naruto to the ground, wrestles one arm into position, smacks his wrist to force his fist to open, and finishes the last seal.

“Gotcha,” Sasuke says, breathless, triumphant, and lightning explodes from them both.

He watches it with the Sharingan, languid arcs of electricity spidering outwards in breathless slow motion, and then he’s struck with the sheer scale of danger he’s just put Naruto in.

A beat.

The sand covering the training ground vitrifies.

Sasuke reacts on instinct. He plasters himself down, covering Naruto, and fuck his promise to Karin, Naruto’s safety is so much more important. Sasuke throws chakra around himself and in a flare of dusk-purple light Susano-o’s ribs bloom around them – and then the charge in the air detonates, and the glass explodes in a storm of razor-sharp splinters, driven by a gust of wind so powerful it momentarily deafens Sasuke.

He waits a few (rapid) heartbeats before he sits up, and looks down at Naruto with mild apprehension.

“What the hell,” Naruto says slowly, “was _that_.”

Sasuke is silent.

“What the _hell!_ ” Naruto repeats, shooting upwards and pushing Sasuke off, and there’s a huge grin growing across his face. “That was so cool, what the fuck.”

“I don’t know why it happened like that,” Sasuke finally says, and stands to survey the damage. The training ground is _wrecked_. Thoroughly. The glass splinters tore through bark in a wide radius, and Sasuke can even see a few spots where the glass punched clean through a tree.

“Yeah, you glassed this place,” Naruto says, and there’s a series of crunches as he turns.

“Vitrified,” Sasuke corrects.

“Vitrified, then glassed,” Naruto compromises, and Sasuke accepts it. “Really, though, what _was_ that?”

“I used you as the other hand for seals,” Sasuke says, “obviously. But I think there was more _you_ in that Chidori than intended.”

He’s fully aware of how utterly bizarre that statement sounds, and Naruto gives him a weird look for it. This kind of thing really isn’t supposed to _happen_ , as far as Sasuke is aware. Two people using two separate jutsu together for some kind of combined effect, sure, but not this strange– _sharing_. Idly, Sasuke wonders if it could be applied to other–

“Hey, so if I used you to make shadow clones, you think it’d look like half me, half you?”

“Let’s not find out.”

“Aw, come on, you don’t wanna know what a– an Uzumaki-Uchiha kid would look like?”

Sasuke gives Naruto a long stare, eyes narrowed, and hopes very much that his face isn’t red.

“I’d certainly hope they get my genes,” he finally says, as dismissively as possible, adamantly _not_ thinking about Naruto’s eyes or the line of his jaw.

“Oh, whatever,” Naruto scoffs good-naturedly. “Gimme your hand, I want to try.” Sasuke raises his eyebrows. “Not making clones, just channeling chakra. C’mon, give me your hand.”

Sasuke slowly extends his hand, palm facing Naruto. Naruto contemplates it for a second, then curls his fingers around Sasuke’s palm in half the ram seal. Sasuke finishes the seal, slowly, deliberately, and for a moment they just stand there, palm to palm.

And then Naruto’s chakra hits him. It’s less of a jolt and more of a push and entirely wild, untamed like nothing he’s felt before. (Nothing except Naruto, and Naruto’s laugh and his smile and— not right now. Not right now.) Naruto blinks in surprise at the sensation, shifting back on his heels, but he doesn’t release the seal.

“I don’t know,” Sasuke says quietly, “why it feels like that.”

“I see what you mean,” Naruto says thoughtfully, pulling up his chakra again in a slow, even wave. “It _is_ like there’s too much you in it. I dunno, it doesn’t feel _bad_ , it’s just w–”

“ _HEY,_ ” comes a thunderous shout, and Sasuke very nearly flinches at the sound of Karin’s voice. “I could sense–” She comes barreling into the clearing and stops dead, digging her heels in, and surveys the wreckage. Sasuke feels a very acute sense of dread descend upon him as Karin turns to look at him, eyes narrowed and full of wrath. “You used the Sharingan. You sent _shards of glass_ everywhere. If you are not downstairs in five seconds for an eye exam, I will disembowel you in your sleep. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” Sasuke replies simply, and Naruto snickers.

“Oh, don’t think I haven’t saved some choice words for you,” Karin snarls at Naruto, then turns her glare right back to Sasuke. “Inside. _Now_.”

Sasuke follows without protest.

 

* * *

 

Karin lets her hands drop, and scowls for good measure.

“Your eyes are fine,” she declares. “They’re great. But that doesn’t mean it was fine to disobey a physician’s orders.”

“I was trying to keep Naruto safe,” Sasuke replies mildly, in his finest bullshitting voice. “Aren’t we all?”

“Fuck off.”

Sasuke smiles.

“Thank you,” he says, and his voice is genuine now. “I appreciate what you and Sakura did for me.”

“You better,” Karin replies, and gently punches him in the shoulder. “Hey– speaking of which, I need to talk to you about something.”

It’s getting easier, starting difficult conversations.

“Is Sakura alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She just sent a letter, actually. There’s been a lot of talk in Konoha about predicting Madara’s next move, and the Alliance wants to set up a network of scouting squads, move fast and hit hard if Madara starts something. They’re figuring that now with both jinchūriki hidden, Madara will escalate in hopes of either getting the Alliance to fold, or playing on the jinchūriki to draw them out.” Sasuke makes a face, one that probably means _yeah, that’d work on Naruto, alright_. Karin, internally, heartily agrees. “And… Suna’s requested that Taka be one of those squads.”

The closest thing to alarm that Karin has ever seen flashes across Sasuke’s face.

“I—” He pauses, eyes searching.

“I know you’re staying with Naruto,” Karin says, as soothingly as she can. “I mean, I know you _can’t_ leave. First, he wouldn’t let you, and second–” She gives him a long, hard look.

“Second?” Sasuke asks politely, blithely, eyebrows raised.

“You’ll get your shit together one day,” Karin says primly. “But– yeah. It’d be me n’ Suigetsu n’ Jūgo, and then Sakura with us.”

“Oh?” A smug look spreads across his face. “You and Sakura?”

“You’re not allowed to do that,” Karin snaps, and she knows it’s a losing argument because that smug smile spreads, and she can feel herself flushing.

“Hmm.” Sasuke sits back with that look still on his face, and Karin gets the distinct feeling she’s lost, somehow. “How soon are you leaving?”

Karin runs a hand through her hair, and lets her eyes drop.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t sent them back an affirmative, yet.”

“What are you waiting for?”

Karin shrugs, and tugs at the shorter half of her hair. She’ll need a haircut soon.

“I wanted to talk to you, and to Naruto, and to Bee.”

To her utter, genuine shock, Sasuke laughs. Quietly, kindly.

“I’m not your boss, Karin. You don’t have to ask me permission.”

Karin stares. And then she digs her fingernails into the palm of her hand, because she is _not_ crying in front of Sasuke.

It hadn’t even occurred to her that she’d been looking for _permission_ , like she’s still a lab rat, like she’s still a child being used by a desperate village.

“I know,” she manages. “But you’re part of Taka too, so you’re— you get a say in this, too.”

Sasuke shrugs.

“If the four of you want to do it, you should,” he says. “Your skills would be a huge asset to the Alliance.”

“Yeah, I think…” Karin takes a breath. “I think we’re gonna do it. But I still want to talk to Naruto about it.” She combs out a tangle at the ends of her hair with her fingers, well aware that she’s just seeking out ways to fidget now. “Anyways, I think you’re okay to slowly start using Sharingan when you’re sparring, but ramp up to it. Try your base state for a while first, and wait a few days before full-on trying Susano-o. You should be fine, but I want to be sure.”

“Thanks, Karin.”

Karin looks at him, and in that moment, it’s impossible to not compare Sasuke now with how he was when she’d met him. That Sasuke had been so closed-off, so _cold_ in an inhuman way, that if Karin hadn’t been able to sense the sparks deep within his chakra, she’d have thought he was an automaton. The emotional distance now isn’t artificial coldness and drawn shutters, but rather _privacy_ , and not for the first time Karin wonders how much of this Sasuke isn’t new, but just a return to the person who existed before Orochimaru.

The first few months traveling with him after Orochimaru’s death were… strange, and sobering. He’d still been almost mechanical on the surface, but sometimes— she recalls Suigetsu telling her about going to retrieve Kubikiribōchō and the strange, soft nostalgia that had taken over Sasuke at that overgrown grave, and she thinks about how Itachi’s death had so very clearly broken something in Sasuke, but in that breaking, something had been released, something that’s budded, slowly flowering.

And the other things, too – the willingness to show gratitude, to express himself, to talk, to reach out. It’s a strange thing to think, but Karin thinks Sasuke is more _human_ now. Jury’s still out on what exactly caused it – though her money’s on all of it, all together – but it’s a welcome change, and in moments like this Karin is so happy to have a friend in Sasuke, to know that he’s doing alright.

“Hey,” she replies, smiling, “any time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really love writing hand-to-hand combat and i recently had that spark reignited for me, and boy, combat is good. sparring is good. sometimes u just gotta write two friends goin at it. (friends in very large scare quotes)


	16. xvi. fifteen months, four weeks, two days since the death of uchiha itachi

“You know, you know, Naruto, we gotta get this training on the road,” Bee’s voice calls, and as Naruto glances away in surprise, Sasuke darts forward, nails him in the chest, and pins him down as they both hit the ground.

“Ow, fuck, hey—” Naruto shoves up at Sasuke, and in response Sasuke sits his weight firmly down on Naruto’s waist. “Lemme up, asshole. Hey Bee, d’you mean we’re starting the training now? The jinchūriki stuff?”

“Hell yeah, Niner, let’s get this designer training fired up!”

“Yes! Finally,” Naruto says, and reaches up to smack Sasuke’s shoulder, grinning. “Is that good enough reason? Let me up.”

Sasuke grabs Naruto’s hand and twists it, barring his elbow, and gives Naruto his very best, most-likely-to-infuriate smirk.

“Make me.”

Naruto wiggles his shoulders, trying to get free, and Sasuke redoubles his grip.

“I’d headbutt you if I didn’t think Karin would somehow _know_ about it and then materialize here and dismember me,” Naruto grumbles.

“I was counting on that.”

Naruto scoffs. Sasuke’s smirk grows. It only provokes Naruto, and he strains Sasuke’s grip more, still trying to work his shoulders out of it— _how_ is this arm bar not uncomfortable enough to dissuade him— and as Sasuke leans forward to maintain the joint lock he realizes what Naruto’s been doing, but it’s too late: he’s shifted his center of mass just enough for Naruto to get leverage, and a second later, the world whirls and Sasuke finds himself on his back with Naruto standing over him.

“Yeah, nice try,” Naruto says smugly. “Almost woulda worked.” He holds a hand out and Sasuke takes it, hauling himself up to his feet. Naruto is flushed and bright-eyed and fucking radiant, grinning like that, and when he tosses an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders, Sasuke can’t help but lean against him. “So what’s this training, Bee?”

“First you gotta pass the test, then we’ll get to the rest,” Bee replies, clapping his hands together as they approach.

“Hell yeah, I’ll ace it. What do I have to do?”

“Can’t tell you that, boo.” Bee leaps away through the trees, tipping his head to indicate they follow, and Naruto explodes forward, hot on his heels. Sasuke takes a split second to catch his breath – not that he’d ever admit he got winded sparring Naruto – then follows.

Bee doesn’t lead them far; it’s a small clearing off the side of a cliff face, with a waterfall crashing into a large, deep pool. The cliff is huge, rising up to probably be the summit of this low island, and Sasuke doesn’t have to squint to see that the very top has been carved into. He can’t see past the waterfall, but it’s likely that this place houses some kind of training ground. Probably reinforced to hold bijū and their jinchūriki.

“Park it here,” Bee says, snapping his fingers in a rhythm as he points to a small, raised patch of earth in the center of the pool, covered in soft moss. “Your test’ll make itself clear.”

Naruto squints at Bee in clear suspicion but sits himself down on the copse anyways, settling fluidly into a meditative pose. Sasuke watches him after sending a curious look in Bee’s direction, which is promptly answered with a knowing smile.

After maybe ten seconds, Naruto jerks back, and snaps his eyes open to stare at Bee. Bee seems entirely unsurprised.

“What was _that?”_ Naruto asks, brows furrowed.

Bee smiles innocently and shrugs, then feigns ignorance as he starts to whistle quietly to himself, inspecting a nonexistent scuff on one of his bracers. Naruto huffs out an annoyed sigh and settles back. Sasuke follows the way Naruto untwists the line of his spine so it lies straight, the fabric of his cloak falling down cleanly to pool around his waist. And then he chides himself for it, because now is _not_ the time.

Naruto is still for much longer, this time around. Sasuke lets his thoughts drift to Sakura and the rest of Team Taka. It is markedly strange to be without Karin, Jūgo, and Suigetsu for the first time in– _years_. It has been _years_ , now. He was fifteen years old when he killed Orochimaru and assembled Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu, and now he is nineteen and Itachi has been dead for over a year. A a shiver crawls its way down his spine. Sasuke carefully moves on to a different train of thought.

Team Taka has only been gone a week, but he finds himself hoping they’ll write soon. He _misses_ them. It’s a strange sensation, to miss people like this; to not feel a horrific pain weighing down his chest at the thought of blood smeared across walls, to not feel lead crawl down his throat at the thought of a small, limp body sprawled in the rain, flanked by ancient statues of ancient men. To not feel guilt like knives and hear _won’t be a next time_ rasp through his ears.

No, missing them like this feels— okay. It feels good, in its own weird way. He’s made space for these people in his life, and they’ve parted ways for the moment, and it’s… okay. It’s not the world-ending horror he’s felt before. It’s not even the same kind of strange emptiness he’d felt in the months after the Kage Summit, measuring time between Naruto’s visits, waiting for a hawk to bring him another message that Naruto will be sent to scout with Taka.

Sasuke is jerked out of his thoughts as Naruto flinches and jumps back again, staring up at Bee once more. He looks almost upset, and trying to hide it. Odd.

“I don’t get it,” he says slowly. “It’s me?”

Bee hums in response, not quite a yes or a no, and bounces his eyebrows.

“Ugh, come on.” Naruto glares at him. “Okay, so, it’s _me_ , but… bad. He— I? said a bunch of creepy mean shit.” And there’s that frown again, his eyes clouding over for the briefest of moments. “When I tried attacking this time, he matched me blow for blow. I don’t get it.”

Bee watches Naruto with his arms crossed and a small, knowing smile. So it’s a puzzle, then — less a brute-force test, more something to be worked out. Sasuke finds his own curiosity growing. Naruto stares up at Bee, clearly waiting for a response, and when Bee continues to _not_ respond, humming a quiet tune instead, Naruto huffs out yet another sigh and slumps his shoulders.

“How am I supposed to defeat an opponent who can do exactly what I do at exactly the same time?”

“Can’t help you there,” Bee finally says, “but it’ll come to you, I swear.”

“Right.” Naruto cracks his knuckles, and makes a face. “Just gotta beat the evil version of myself up. Nothin’ to it.”

He hops over to join them on the soft-earth banks of the pool and stares out towards the waterfall, brows drawn, eyes scanning the area as he thinks.

“Punching sense into something shouldn’t be too hard for you,” Sasuke says, and he doesn’t even mean it particularly disparagingly, but Naruto makes a face at him anyways.

“Hey Fire Eyes, if you’re so wise, you can try to reach for that prize too,” Bee says, and when Naruto raises his eyebrows, Sasuke can feel that telltale burn of challenge settle deep into his chest.

“I’ve lived most of my life in darkness,” Sasuke says simply. “I’m not scared of it.”

Naruto gives him a very, very patient look in response.

“Haven’t we, you know, gotten past the whole _ooh, darkness_ thing? I mean, it was kinda funny when we were 12, and I’m sure you thought it made you mysterious and cool—”

Sasuke shoves Naruto bodily into the pool without an ounce of remorse.

“Fuck!” Naruto shouts, leaping back out with a massive, messy surge of water. “ _Cold!_ ”

Sasuke is about a millimeter into a triumphant smirk when he finds himself tackled from behind by none other than a clone, and he hits the water with both an almighty splash and a puff of smoke. Fucking hell, it _is_ cold. The waterfall roars dully from below the water’s surface, and Sasuke kicks upwards with a surge of chakra. Naruto looks like a disheveled cat and Bee is laughing at them both, doubled over, and Sasuke again feels no remorse as he splashes water on both of them as he hauls himself out of the pool.

“That’s what you get, asshole,” Naruto sneers, without any real heat. Sasuke feels the bizarre urge to stick his tongue out at him, and thankfully he quells it.

“You obviously needed to clear your head,” Sasuke replies.

To his surprise, Naruto doesn’t rise to the obvious bait, and instead frowns and looks away.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m gonna go try again.”

Sasuke frowns and crosses his arms as Naruto leaps back over to the copse, shaking water out of his hair before he sits down.

Neither the next attempt, nor the one after that, nor the one after _that_ , seem to go well. The thing is, though, that Naruto doesn’t look like he’s getting frustrated, he looks like he’s getting upset. Sasuke finds that his curiosity is starting to get the better of him. Naruto is quick in a fight and he’s emotionally intelligent, always prepared to connect with people no matter the circumstance. What this test could possibly entail that’s stumping him, Sasuke doesn’t know. He realizes, though, that he’d like to find out.

Bee pulls Naruto away, eventually, and Naruto looks almost like he’s been pulled out of sleep, the way his eyes are distant.

“No rush on this one, Niner. Important step, but we can climb this hill another time,” Bee says, not unkindly. “Sleep on it, let it stew, it’ll come to you.”

Naruto is still frowning, deep in thought, and he nods slowly, distractedly at Bee. Bee claps him on the shoulder.

“C’mon, kid. Get your blood flowing and engage your brain — you wanna train? You against me–” He points at Naruto and at Sasuke. “–two on two, shame we can’t make it three.”

“Two?” Sasuke asks.

“Number Eight and me,” Bee replies, tapping his chest. “We’re a pair. Forget that, and you’ll go nowhere against us.”

“What d’you think, Sasuke?” Naruto stands, frown slowly morphing into a grin. “You think we can take ‘em?”

“You and me? Sure. Let’s keep it even, two on two.” He spares Naruto another smirk. “Make it fair for Bee and the Hachibi.”

Naruto grins back, wild and familiar and bright, and Sasuke calls up chakra that sings with potential between them.

 

* * *

 

Later, after the dust has settled and everyone has left, Sasuke sits before the Falls of Truth.

He scrambles backwards not five seconds later, shaken.

He does not attempt again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, video games got the better of me and this is much later than intended – my apologies. it was a very "tfw viddy game catches you directly on your bullshit with positively deadly accuracy" situation


	17. xvii. sixteen months, six days since the death of uchiha itachi

Sasuke is barely a blur at this point and the air stinks like ozone but Naruto pushes anyways, shrugs off a jolt of electricity that makes his tongue go numb so he can land a good hit before Sasuke can dart away again and he’s drawing deep on every scrap of chakra he can manage and—

—and that red rage just keeps building and it’s like floodgates are opening, a never-ending rush of hot, hot chakra, and he barely feels the full-force blow to his chest, nor the hands that roughly grab his head, and then he’s falling.

Naruto starts with a jerk and he’s got a split second to register where he is — darkness, water, his hand raised towards a gate — before a body shoves its way in front of him, knocking him back, and Sasuke throws both of his hands forward and _pushes_ against the Kyūbi’s enormous snout. Naruto opens his mouth to shout but before anything can work its way out of his throat, the Kyūbi retreats with a low rumble.

Naruto blinks, and they’re back on the surface. Sasuke is breathing heavily from the four hours they’ve spent sparring so far, sweat sliding down his face, eyes dark, hands still on either side of Naruto’s face. Blankly, Naruto watches as Sasuke closes his eyes, briefly, and takes a long, deep breath.

“Be careful,” Sasuke says, quietly, intently, but he sounds distant and muffled through the ringing in Naruto’s ears.

Fast. That all happened way too fast.

“What?” Naruto manages. The rest of the world beyond Sasuke’s intense, insistent gaze, the dark halo of his mussed hair, slowly comes into focus.

“Be careful,” Sasuke says again, and the words float slowly into Naruto’s brain and then right back out when he realizes that Sasuke’s hands are still framing his face. More accurately, Sasuke is what’s keeping him from just collapsing into a heap. “You’re worked up. The Kyūbi is close to the surface.”

Naruto’s brain is useless mush and capable exclusively of noticing how deep and luminous Sasuke’s eyes are, multitudinous layers of red cut through with clean lines, the neat hook of each tomoe. He manages to say something very cohesive along the lines of _huh_ and Sasuke blinks slowly, sighs, lets his hands drop, and takes a step back. Naruto sways almost immediately, and decides that sitting down is probably the best course of action, so he does.

Sasuke joins him, slowly, cautiously, and the silence stretches from comfort to discomfort and back, and Naruto lets his thoughts wander towards the black hole they’re orbiting.

Nothing should have caused this. It shouldn’t have happened. The Kyūbi shouldn’t be so… _present_ , or something. This was the most normal of spars and Naruto had gotten worked up the way he usually does because Sasuke is so _frustrating_ and spectacular and then that itch on the back of his tongue started to grow and he couldn’t push it back and now they’re here.

He closes his eyes and starts slowly working towards a meditative state, to at least make an _attempt_ at calming himself. That red heat running up from his stomach into his throat is still there, no matter what he does. No matter how much he tries to burn it away sparring or practicing. No matter how much he tries to not think about it, no matter how much he tries not to dwell on everything he saw and heard sitting under the Falls of Truth.

If he doesn’t solve the riddle behind the Falls soon, he’s nothing more than a liability. And that’s something he can’t stand.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Sasuke obligingly turns his head. Naruto’s got his forearms resting on his knees, head rolled back against the tree, sweat still beaded across his brow, eyes half-closed as his face is turned up to the gray sunlight filtering through the late-morning fog. The frown he’s wearing is the only hint that the Kyūbi had nearly ripped through its seal not five minutes ago.

“Why are you asking like that? Just ask.”

“Okay, well—” Naruto huffs. “When you were, uh, with Orochimaru. What were you thinking?”

“...What?”

“No, not like– obviously, I know why you left, I didn’t mean that. _That_ , I get that. More like, what… got you through it?”

Sasuke stares at him blankly. There’s clearly a second half to this question that Naruto isn’t willing to ask, and he’s got a sneaking suspicion it’s got to do with Bee’s test.

“It wasn’t hard to find motivation.” Sasuke lets his own head rest back against the tree, and closes his eyes. “I never had a hard time embracing the…” He pauses, searching. “The reality of the situation. I knew I had to use that darkness, revenge, hatred, whatever. I had to use it like a weapon, or it’d use me. Not sure if I succeeded, but.” He shrugs. The motion knocks his arm into Naruto’s. “I’m here now.”

Naruto is quiet for a bit, thinking, and Sasuke listens to the rhythm of their breaths as it evens out.

“I never learned how,” Naruto finally says, slowly, “I don’t think. All my life I tried so hard to not let it show, to not resent all the people who chased me away like some kind of disease. I guess I thought, if I can think about the good stuff instead, if I can keep pushing away every shitty thought I had, then it’ll go away and things’ll be fine. But I don’t think it worked like that.”

“Funny,” Sasuke says quietly. “I thought the same about—“ He shrugs. “Finding others I cared about. I couldn’t let it overpower the… need to get revenge. So I had to push it away.”

Naruto is quiet for a much longer time, now, and Sasuke cracks his eyes open to look at him. Naruto is staring ahead, unfocused, face somber, and it makes Sasuke ache a bit, to think they’ve come so far, and it still hurts to see Naruto looking anything other than at peace. Sasuke looks away.

“I thought about you a lot,” he finally mutters. Mumbles. Continues before he can stop himself. “When I was with Orochimaru, I mean. The most mundane things. What kind of ramen you’d talk about on a given day, how sparring would go if you were there. What Sakura was studying that she’d ramble about in the morning. I kept pushing it away, because I couldn’t afford to get distracted from what I needed to do. And then when you showed up— it was like everything leaked out of the cracks. I knew I couldn’t kill you for the Mangekyō.”

Naruto doesn’t say anything. Sasuke continues, again, and thinks that maybe it’s not so bad to talk about things.

“That part of me is why I survived, how I kept going. Maybe it shouldn’t have been, but that’s how it is. I can’t not feel a little grateful for it.”

“Grateful?” Naruto is frowning, staring at the space between his knees with unseeing eyes. “I never thought about it that way.”

“It would be good,” Sasuke says, quietly, “to live in a world where people didn’t have to think about it that way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a twofer today! next chapter incoming shortly. also, the first part of this was actually written a while ago for a chapter/idea i scrapped entirely, so i'm glad i got to recycle it.


	18. xviii. sixteen months, two weeks, five days since the death of uchiha itachi

“Ow, _shit_ —”

“Stay still,” Sakura snarls, using her arm to wipe at the wet hair still dripping down into her eyes.

“Don’t be a baby,” Karin adds, and with a surge of her chakra the pain flares again, like needles stitching him together. _Precisely_ like needles stitching him together.

“ _Ow!_ ” Suigetsu shouts, and Jūgo, the absolute damn _bastard_ , chuckles quietly. Is he trying to take Sasuke’s dedicated spot of the team asshole, or what. “First off, I’m not a baby, and you’re doing this to intentionally be painful, ‘cause you’re assholes. _Second_ –”

“Second,” Karin cuts in, “you were reckless and you almost got yourself killed and you shouldn’t have done it.”

“Buuut?” Suigetsu grins, baiting her, in spite of the fact that she’s just mended and reattached most of his major organs and she’s perfectly positioned to undo it.

“There’s no _but_ ,” she snaps back. “You nearly died, okay? And I—”

Her breath hitches, and Suigetsu thinks that that just won’t do.

“Hey, c’mon,” he tries, “I know I was reckless, but it’s over. He’s dead, I’m alive.” Another bolt of pain lances through him, and he winces. “Mostly.”

“Bee had also thought Kisame was dead after they fought,” Jūgo says, quiet. “Are we sure he is, this time?”

Karin pauses, and closes her eyes. Suigetsu watches her face for any sign of danger, but he figures Sakura is watching her face for an entirely different reason. Karin sighs, after about a full minute of silence accompanied by rainfall and a very distant rumble of thunder.

“No,” she says. “He’s dead. That thing—” She points at Samehada and Suigetsu rolls his eyes because really, _thing_ , that’s rude, it has a _name_. “—has some residual traces of his chakra still, and a lot of other peoples’ chakra too, but it’s nothing like what I sensed before.” She lowers her eyes. “I should have known earlier. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sakura says, frowning. It doesn’t sound like a rote answer or an empty platitude, and Suigetsu appreciates that on Karin’s behalf.

“Yeah,” he agrees.

“I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary either,” Jūgo reminds her. “If there’s blame, we all share it.”

“It’s fine, Karin,” Suigetsu says when that frown doesn’t leave her face. “Honestly, I'm pretty glad I got to fight Kisame himself. Bee just giving me Samehada was nowhere near as satisfying.”

He looks over at the body, respectfully covered by a tattered, damp cloak. Jūgo’s thoughtful work. It hasn’t stopped the rain from starting to pool underneath, though, and there’s blood seeping sluggishly into the collected rainwater.

It feels… weird. Technically, he’s been two swords closer to all seven for a few weeks, but now it feels different. Hoshigaki Kisame is dead, and Samehada is now his in a new way. He is this much closer to the goal he’s been clinging to for his whole life, to fulfilling the memory of his brother in a way so strangely converse from what Sasuke has been doing.

And yet what’s foremost in his mind is relief that the mole within the Alliance is gone. That no other forward scouts or voluntary evacuation platoons will be hit by Zetsu squads in the dead of night, in places thought to be safe and secret. That there won’t be any more fingers pointed over who’s been leaking information to Madara. That Samehada-hiding-Kisame was taken half a continent away from Sasuke and Naruto and Bee before anything could happen to them.

Ugh. _Friendship_. Compassion! Peace! To think he’d considered himself above such useless, frivolous things in the past. And now he’s prioritizing those feelings over even his life goal! Astounding and ridiculous, he thinks dramatically to himself, and lets Karin and Jūgo both gather him up in a simultaneous (albeit slightly wet) hug, mindful of his wounds.

“One more Akatsuki member down,” Suigetsu says into Jūgo’s shoulder, “one more to go, huh?”

“Right,” Karin sighs. “Just the one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i've mentioned this before, but i like writing shorter chapters/passages a lot (i just don't like stranding them alone, is the thing). i wrote something super vague and artsy and full of shorter passages for a different fandom a week or so ago and let me tell you..... it feels GOOD


	19. xix. sixteen months, three weeks, six days after the death of uchiha itachi

It’s cold when Naruto wakes up, and the sky is steel-gray through the window, backlit by early-morning sunshine. Sasuke’s breaths are heavy and deep across the room, and they likely will be for another hour or so. The air is calm.

It’s time.

Naruto breezes through his morning routine in half the usual time, then pulls on his cloak and heads for the Falls of Truth. He knows what to do.

...Well, he knows what to _try_ , at least. He just hopes he’s right. As he arranges himself on the small patch of grass rising up out of the pool, cold mist already starting to sink into his clothes, he takes a moment, one last time, to think back through everything that’s led him here, every moment of pain and darkness and anger he’s shoved away.

And then he takes a measured breath, and closes his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Sasuke feels a deep, anxious itch under his skin, and he can’t stop himself from glancing over at Bee yet again.

“It’s taking much longer this time,” he finally says.

“He’s getting somewhere, I’ll dare say,” Bee replies, and watches Naruto’s still form thoughtfully. “He knows there’s a way, and I’ve got a feeling about today.”

I do too, Sasuke doesn’t say out loud, and instead shifts his weight on his feet in a way he’ll deny forever is nervous.

 

There’s very little warning. Sasuke only notices because he happened to be looking ( _looking_ , not staring) at Naruto’s face at the time. Naruto inhales, and the mist gathering on his eyelashes trembles as he slowly opens his eyes, and blinks. Bee puts an iron hand on Sasuke’s shoulder almost immediately, stilling him before he can even move. Sasuke heeds it, and keeps his eyes glued to Naruto as he inhales again, blinks again, slow and unfocused.

“Naruto?” Sasuke calls quietly, unable to do _nothing_ , and Bee squeezes his shoulder. Naruto blinks again and shifts, and Sasuke realizes he’s composing himself. Naruto stands slowly, silently and a spike of anxiety lodges itself in Sasuke’s chest – what if something’s gone horribly wrong, what if digging around in his subconscious only tightened the Kyūbi’s grip on Naruto – but then Naruto gracelessly shakes his head and scatters mist out of his hair in a halo, and looks at Sasuke and Bee with a grin that manages to be both soft and blinding.

“Knew you could do it,” Bee says proudly before Sasuke can think of anything to say. “Now we’re onto part two.”

“Hell yes,” Naruto replies, punching the air in triumph. “Let’s do it. Wait, actually– Sasuke, can I talk–?”

Sasuke finds his arm being tugged on, and Naruto’s eyes are insistent. He wrenches his eyes away from Naruto, then looks over and Bee and raises his eyebrows. Bee waves a dismissing hand at them, then pulls out his notebook and starts tapping out syllabic rhythms with his other hand as he writes something down.

Sasuke is pulled far enough away to be just out of earshot of Bee, and the waterfall is a muted roar behind Naruto.

“What?” Sasuke asks.

“Um—” Naruto screws up his face a bit. He’s standing very close. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“I… thought about what you said, earlier.” Naruto is standing _very_ close. “You know, about being grateful to the– uh– the bad stuff, you know.”

Sasuke thinks back to that conversation, replays it in his head.

“Did you– is that how you passed the test? By telling it you’re grateful for the worst parts of you? Because–”

“Yeah, well, that’s the thing,” Naruto says, all in a rush, leaning forward in his eagerness. “I was thinking, it’s like chakra, you know? You have to balance it. Sometimes you don’t and you fuck up a jutsu but it ends up okay anyways, and sometimes it just goes way bad. But there has to be a balance.” Naruto shrugs. “I can’t just shove the bad things away and pretend it doesn’t exist. _You_ can’t wrap yourself in it and ignore everything good about you.”

Sasuke is horrifically overcome by the urge to Do Something That He Adamantly Will Not Analyze Right Now. Instead, he lifts a hand and places it on Naruto’s shoulder.

“I’m glad you figured it out,” he says, sincere and quiet.

“Just—” Naruto pats Sasuke’s hand, and that’s not making the Problem, capital P, ease up in any way. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. Your help, I mean. Now let’s go–” He sucks in a steadying breath. “Let’s go release this seal.”

 

* * *

 

The inside of the… cave? building? is _huge_ , way bigger than Naruto had thought it’d be just from looking at that cliffside. It’s spacious and ancient and smells like damp rock, but not in a particularly bad way. It feels like _nature_ in a way almost kind of like Mount Myōboku did, and it’s reassuring.

“Here’s what you’re gonna do,” Bee says, standing right in the middle of the room. Weirdly, his voice doesn’t echo, in spite of how echo-prone this place seems it would be. “First things first: you’re gonna undo that seal, for real. Use that key, then we’ll be on to number two: fight for everything that makes up _you_.”

“Do… what?” Naruto feels his nerves spike uncharacteristically.

“You can’t make two into one without losing some,” Bee explains. “You gotta find a way to keep him from you, so you’re still two, but the point is to yank on that power when you need to.”

“Right, okay,” Naruto says, because that does make sense, “but _how?”_

“Fight it how you feel it,” Bee says, and shrugs. “I was taught to pull like an ox, but Eight-O and I never really had issues sharing our box of toys.”

“What, you mean just pull?”

“Tug-of-war,” Sasuke interjects, eyebrows raised.

“War or battle, doesn’t matter, ‘long as you got the resolve.”

“Alright, well, let's just get it done, then,” Naruto says, and shoves away the steadily growing anxiety that’s buzzing at his extremities. He can see Sasuke tense out of the corner of his eye, and he looks over for a second and smiles – hopefully that’s reassuring enough – before rucking up his shirt with one hand and gathering up chakra in his other.

When the seal breaks, it breaks with a hush, almost anticlimactic. It’s silent in this cavernous place, like something has just sighed, and the pressure of silence beats down upon Naruto’s ears.

“Brace yourself,” Bee says, low and serious, and that’s all the warning Naruto gets.

 

 

Naruto cries. Right there, right in front of a struggling, snarling bijū, even as he pulls and _holds_ and restructures the cage into something more open, something easier to parse. His tears are ugly and loud and messy and undignified but he couldn’t care less because _his mother_ is standing in front of him, smiling, proud, luminous.

The first half of the conversation passes in an utter blur. He’ll take time to process this, process his parents, process _everything_ , later. The fact that Madara was behind it all is quite literally too large in scope for him to handle right now.

(If Naruto had been capable of paying attention to anything other than his mother, he would have noticed the Kyūbi slowly fall silent as Kushina detailed the events of Naruto’s birth.)

The second half of the conversation starts with silence, broken only by periodic sniffles as Naruto tries valiantly to stop crying.

“I wish,” he finally says, “you could meet everyone. See everything.” He winces. “Okay, my apartment is kinda messy, so maybe not. But I wish you could—” His throat constricts. “My friends are— they’re really great, you know. I wish they coulda met you and Dad.”

“Oh, honey.” Kushina wraps an arm around him and Naruto is weirdly so, so grateful that this is all happening in his head, because normally he’d be absolutely covered in snot and tears. Here, at least, it seems to just poof magically whenever he needs it to. “But hey, you can tell me about them!”

Naruto perks up instantly.

“Oh man—” He scrubs an arm across his eyes. “You really wanna know?”

“Of _course_ I do,” Kushina replies, laughing, and squeezes him closer. Naruto grins. “Tell me everything.”

“I don’t even know where to start, you know? Sakura is so fucking—” He stops, dead, and claps a hand over his mouth.

Stares in horror at his _mother,_ in front of whom he’s just _cursed_.

Kushina takes a good look at his face – hell, he’s probably still all teary and puffy – and bursts into raucous laughter. She absolutely _cackles_ , leaning back and kicking a foot in the air, and Naruto watches her in awe.

“Foul mouths run in the family,” she says, between gasps for breath. “Oh, this is too good. Go on, though, go on, tell me about Sakura!”

“She’s– she’s so cool,” Naruto finishes, a little lamely. His face feels a little hot. Is it hot in here? It feels hot. “Yeah, um, Sakura’s really cool, and she just knows so much _stuff_ , you know? She’s so smart and she works so hard. Tsunade! You know Tsunade? She’s her apprentice.” Naruto grins. “And Kiba’s so cool with Akamaru, you know, his dog, and Shikamaru is _crazy_ intelligent even though he works really hard to hide it, and Hinata is so damn skilled and thoughtful and she and Neji are gonna put the Hyūga clan all back into one piece and get rid of that curse seal bullshit, you know? And _Gaara!_ Gaara is the Kazekage even though he’s got a bijū in him– or, well, he did, and Akatsuki ripped it out, but he survived because an elder sacrificed herself for him. And Karin is an Uzumaki too! So I guess she’s my cousin? Or something? And Suigetsu is like, the weirdest dude I know, but he’s so good with a sword, it’s a little scary. And Jūgo’s got a bunch of senjutsu chakra in him naturally so he’s super in tune with animals, it’s so cool. And Sasuke—” Naruto pauses, breath stilling, and an electric surge runs through his stomach and up his throat. “–he’s, you know, my best friend.”

“Uchiha?” Kushina asks, eyes twinkling.

“I dunno any other Sasukes, so yeah.”

“Did you know I’ve met him?” Kushina grins, and it’s _so weird_ to see his own smile on someone else’s face. Good weird, but weird nonetheless.

Wait.

“Wait, what?”

“He’s older than you, hon.” Kushina gently flicks him on the nose. “Barely, but he is. I saw him when he was just a teeny baby.”

“Really?” Naruto tries to wrap his head around it. “That’s so _weird_. But I guess he’d look super different to you now, ‘cause all babies just look all wrinkly and mad when they’re small.”

“Sure,” Kushina replies, laughing, “but he was a very cute kind of wrinkly and mad, you know.”

“Oh, I’m gonna tell him you said that. He’ll hate it.”

“I was friends with his mom,” Kushina says, “so we spent a lot of time together when I was pregnant with you.” She gently squeezes his shoulder. “Oh, Naruto. I wish we could have been a family for you.”

“It’s okay,” Naruto mumbles, and oh boy, there’s the waterworks coming back. “I’ve got Sakura and Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei and Gaara and everyone.”

“Hey, I’ve got something to teach you.” She gently knocks their heads together. “Family jutsu, you know. You up for it?”

“ _Hell_ yes,” Naruto says, and he’s really thankful that his mom (his _mom_ ) doesn’t say anything about how wobbly his voice is.

“Hiraishin,” Kushina says, and that steely glint is back in her eyes, “is what your dad was most famous for. Yellow Flash of Konoha, they called him. Which is nice and all, but that doesn’t say shit about who helped him do it, you know?” She winks. “The Uzumaki clan was famous for our skill with seals. I helped your dad make his own seal for Hiraishin, so he could use it more effectively for himself. I can’t help you master the technique, but I can give you the tools.”

“Teach me,” Naruto says, and though his mother’s face blurs as the tears well up again, he can still see her smile.

 

* * *

 

Red chakra bubbles up from Naruto’s skin and Sasuke shifts, ready. Naruto’s frown grows, and Bee takes a deep, steadying breath; the red chakra rises and fades unevenly, like a pot boiling over in slow motion.

And then, suddenly, the Kyūbi’s chakra retreats back under Naruto’s skin like it’s been yanked. There’s a beat of stillness, so silent it’s nearly painful, and then light flares, blinding.

Sasuke watches as radiant chakra explodes around Naruto, and his hand snaps to the weapon at his waist automatically even as he’s tracking each flickering wash of energy, swirling protectively around Naruto. Less like the animalistic second skin he’d worn before, and more _Naruto_ this time, bright like morning sunshine, warm and gold.

He watches Naruto’s face, carefully still, and after a few moments Naruto slowly blinks his eyes open, still radiating chakra, and looks up at Sasuke before shooting Bee a brilliant grin.

“I did it!” he shouts, glancing between Bee and Sasuke, and Sasuke lets out a breath of relief that he’s not sure how long he’s been holding.

“Hell yeah!” Bee responds, grinning back, and knocks their fists together again before squeezing Naruto’s shoulder.

“Hey, Sasuke—” Radiant. So fucking radiant. It suits Naruto so perfectly that Sasuke doesn’t even know what to do with himself. “–my mom says you looked really wrinkly and weird as a baby.”

Sasuke stares.

“What.”

Naruto laughs, and jumps up to his feet.

“Yeah! I talked to my mom this time,” Naruto explains, and steps close. Sasuke has to will himself to not get drawn in by the warmth of that chakra. “She said she met you, ‘cause you were born before me, you know? And she was friends with your mom.”

Sasuke stares.

“She was?” His voice sounds hoarse and croaky, distant even to his own ears.

“Yeah.” Naruto’s smile turns soft. “Guess we’re carrying on their legacy.”

He nudges Sasuke’s shoulder, and whatever swirling thoughts were about to align in his head, they’re all promptly knocked into disarray because of that _sensation_. Like an electric shock, making his skin crawl with pins and needles but warm somehow, a jolt like a racing pulse. Sasuke blinks in surprise, then reaches out and wraps a hand around Naruto’s wrist, and the sensation doubles.

“What?”

“I can feel your chakra.” Sasuke redirects his own chakra to his eyes, letting the world color itself crimson, and he almost regrets it because like this Naruto is _blinding_.

“What, really? Like how?”

“Like a glow, you know, all electrical,” Bee cuts in helpfully, as Sasuke struggles to find words that aren’t embarrassing. “Burns in a good way, hey.”

“Here, I feel only chakra,” Sasuke finally say, letting the hand not gripping Naruto’s wrist hover over Naruto’s other arm, flames licking up between his fingers. “Dense. But here—” He squeezes Naruto’s wrist for emphasis. “I feel skin, and chakra flowing through it. The fact that I can physically feel your chakra is— that’s a _lot_ of chakra.”

“Huh,” Naruto replies. “Well, I am using the Kyūbi’s now. Hence the—” He gestures at himself. “The whole, this.”

“That’s the power you got now,” Bee says. “The two of you together are gonna go places, ‘long as you got that tether—” He mimes pulling on something with two hands. “—there’s no bad weather that’ll ruin your parade.”

“Right, cool, so— hey Sasuke, you up for a spar?”

“Big no, Naruto,” Bee cuts in, and his voice has an edge of uncharacteristic sharpness. “It’s gonna be just you and me for two or three weeks. There’s a lot you gotta learn to be now that you’ve reached this stage in your jinchūriki journey.”

Naruto deflates visibly, and Sasuke feels the urge to laugh because it seems like, comically, even the flickering chakra around him dims and withdraws.

“What about regular sparring, without this?” Sasuke asks. “Or Susano-o,” he adds, as an afterthought. To make it fair.

“‘Long as we get a few weeks without tails, that’ll be okay,” Bee replies, and shrugs.

“That’s no fun,” Naruto mutters under his breath.

“We’ll do it like this – Niner, you and I’ll start to polish your tricks till you shine,” Bee says. “And you, kiddo, are gonna have to put in some work on your stamina if you want to be havin’ a chance against him.”

Sasuke bristles reflexively but, well, Bee isn’t wrong. He can use bits and pieces of Susano-o – the ribs still come to him the quickest and anything more than hands is a struggle – but his stamina has always been his weak point, especially compared to Naruto.

“Fine,” he says. “When we spar, it’ll be for stamina, and we’ll practice techniques separately. How long do you—”

A burst of chakra flares out from Naruto, edged with red, and with it comes the searing smell of hot ashes. Bee wraps himself in a handful of his own tails before Sasuke can react, and as Sasuke reaches out a hand to Naruto, Naruto clenches his fists and screws his eyes shut.

“Niner?” Bee asks, with that same unexpected sharpness.

“It’s fine,” Naruto grits out, and pops open one eye.

“Is it?” Sasuke asks.

“It’s _fine_ ,” Naruto repeats, and flexes his hands. “It’s– I just gotta get used to it.”

“Maybe you should stick by, Fire Eyes,” Bee muses. “In a pinch, you can make it so that he won’t budge an inch.” He punctuates the statement by fluttering his fingers in front of his eyes.

Ice coils though Sasuke’s gut.

“I don’t want to,” he says quietly.

“What?” Naruto frowns.

“I don’t want to have to use my Sharingan on you. Or on the Kyūbi.” He avoids meeting Naruto’s eyes. “It feels— terrible.”

A brief silence. Sasuke can see Naruto looking at him, but continues to avert his eyes.

“Hey Bee? What happens if the Kyūbi gets loose?”

“That’s why we’re in this space,” Bee replies, and gestures. “It’s a special place. Any bijū gets loose, it gets sealed away here, stops any misuse. Otherwise, it goes free, and that’s not where we want it to be.”

“Then why aren’t the bijū kept here?” Sasuke asks.

“No room for more,” Bee says. “Only for an emergency, for problems of the biggest urgency.”

“I get the feeling,” Naruto says, “that the bijū would hate being locked up in here. I mean, they seem to hate being shoved into a person, you know? But at least, like, you and the Hachibi learned to get along, so maybe others could, too. Sure is better than sitting locked up in a building forever.”

“You know, Naruto,” Bee replies, smiling like he knows something the rest of them don’t, “I think you’re onto something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man, i did not mean for a month to go between updates, but that's life. i initially wanted to get this out before i started my new job but clearly i Did Not, and i'm still trying to adjust my free time to a new schedule, etc. etc. etc., so between that and kinda getting knocked out of my writing rhythm when i.... started sinking all my time into destiny again because i cannot resist Certain Things......... this chapter was too long in coming!! and i do apologize! but i'm slowly settling in and getting a handle on how to split Relatively Very Small Time into writing and art and viddy game and i'm excited to get back to this fic properly. anyways, long and pointless life update aside, another very big thank-you to everyone who's commented on this so far – it makes me so pumped to keep writing.


	20. xx. eighteen months, two days after the death of uchiha itachi

Kurama has been alive for centuries, has watched thousands of people live and fight and die, has seethed behind bars for three generations, and yet Uzumaki Naruto constantly proves himself to be the single most infuriating and perplexing thing he has ever seen in his lifetime.

He paces in the confines of the seal-space, resisting the urge to snarl as two unfortunately familiar knots of chakra dive deep and approach him. The gates around him hum. 

“Hey, you,” Naruto calls, casual, as if he’s stepping in to visit a friend. At this Kurama _does_ snarl, pressing close to the boundary closing him in, teeth bared, claws reaching, and the experiment pays off: just like last time, the Uchiha not-quite-traitor slips silently, reflexively in front of Naruto. 

Kurama growls again, just for good measure. If he has to deal with watching another jinchūriki go through painfully awkward courtship he’d rather just let this seal eat him, thanks. At least Mito had already been married. 

“What do you want,” he snaps. 

“Actually—” Naruto glances at the other shithead before stepping forward. “We wanted to ask you about Madara.”

Kurama blows out a snort. 

“Ain’t that _your_ department?” he asks, leering at Uchiha. 

“I don’t know my family history,” Uchiha replies, shrugging, as casual as anything. “Anyone who could tell me has been dead for over a decade. Or, a criminal in hiding, apparently.

“And _I’m_ your last resort?” Kurama grins wide, relishing the thought. “Ironic.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Naruto squints up at him. “Ironic because Madara controlled you? That’s why we’re asking.”

Kurama restrains himself from rolling his eyes, because he is a majestic creature, and settles for whipping his tails around the seal-space, hot wind following in their wake. 

“But in any case,” Naruto continues, “from what my mom and my dad said—” He pauses, as if he’s startled the words out of himself, and then the kid starts to positively glow, as if a fire’s been lit within him. Uchiha watches him closely, and Kurama finds his scowl deepening. “From what my mom and my dad said, the masked guy, Madara, he’s the one who controlled you the day I was born.”

...huh. Truth be told, Kurama hadn’t put much weight to the fact that the masked man is calling himself Madara. 

“You know the story of that night,” he snaps, and there’s really something _so_ gratifying about the way any movement makes Uchiha twitch defensively in Naruto’s direction. It’s so easy to play him like a fiddle. “But do you know how I ended up getting stuffed inside you _humans_ for three miserable generations?”

“How?” Naruto’s eyes are bright with genuine curiosity. Kurama sneers. This goddamn child. “There was a time you just roamed around? Whoa. I bet you must miss that.”

Naruto folds himself onto the ground, squarely in the middle of one of the many torī gates scattered about this space. He pulls Uchiha down with him too, hand lingering, and Kurama lets another exasperated growl roll through his teeth. 

“You have,” he rumbles, “ _no_ idea how much I miss not being _locked—_ ” He lunges forward as much as he can, teeth bared. “—inside of another bullheaded Uzumaki _brat.”_

“He’s not so bad,” Uchiha counters, eyes glittering. “The bullheadedness comes in handy.”

Alright, well. That’s a point in the traitor’s column, granted by the indignant _hey_ Naruto levels at him. 

“How’d it happen, though?” Naruto resettles himself after elbowing Uchiha and the ensuing brief scuffle, and Uchiha follows the movement with softness on his face. Positively _wretched_. Point retracted. Kurama would gag if it weren’t below him to do so. 

“It happened at a spot you know well,” Kurama replies, and relishes the words he’ll use to sink his teeth. “The Valley of the End.” Naruto and Uchiha both start, just minutely, and glance at each other. “Didn’t you know that you were walking in your ancestors’ footsteps there? That you were spilling blood in a place already soaked by it?” Kurama presses close again, lips curled back. “That your ancient patriarch, Uchiha, died in that valley, killed by his dearest friend? But you couldn't finish the job and rewrite history. I suppose that makes you a soft-hearted fool worthy of your lineage.” 

Naruto’s hand reaches out to wrap tightly around Uchiha’s wrist, and then he looks up at Kurama, brows drawn. 

“Explain,” he commands, and Kurama very nearly recoils in surprise because that voice, that _presence_ — Kurama is steadily getting more and more convinced he knows what these two children are, even though they clearly don’t. 

(But no, it’s truly not fair to call them children. Kurama is approaching his twentieth year imprisoned within Naruto. It’s been a long time since those two were just children.)

“Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara fought at the Valley of the End,” Kurama starts. “I don’t know why, so don't even bother asking. Madara used his thrice-cursed eyes to control me, so he could use me to destroy a newly-built Konoha. That Senju fool killed him, releasing me, and then his terror of a wife sealed me inside herself.” Kurama bares his teeth again. “Starting _three generations_ of imprisonment.”

Naruto is silent for a few moments, clearly thinking, and the chakra in this space swims evenly, gates still humming. 

“Well,” Naruto finally says, slowly, “if you’re inside a jinchūriki that would make you harder to be controlled by someone like Madara, wouldn’t it?” Kurama stares. Naruto goes on, oblivious. “And I bet you bijū are way easier to hide and keep safe if you’re kept inside a jinchūriki too.”

“Safe?” Kurama echoes, voice rising in disbelief. “You think this was about keeping me _safe?_ No! This was about _control_ , you fool, about being a bargaining chip, about being _used_.” His teeth are inches from Naruto. “About being an orphan and being hated for something entirely out of your control.”

“And about manipulation.” Uchiha’s voice is soft, but his eyes burn as he stares at Kurama. “About being a tool, and about being collateral. About being able to point fingers at a group of people so others can feel justified in hating them. After the attack nineteen years ago, people started to blame the Uchiha clan for what happened. Never publicly, never anywhere but behind closed doors, but the sentiment was there.” He looks away. “They were relocated away from the city center. Not for safety. Not their own, anyways.”

Naruto, to his credit, looks sufficiently scolded, cheeks pink. 

“Yeah,” he says. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But— at least right now, I can keep you safe from Akatsuki if you’re stuck inside me. I can protect you.”

For the first time in centuries, Kurama is utterly speechless. 

“Protect your _self_ first, dumbass,” Uchiha mutters in the meantime, a prod to lighten the mood and accept the apology, but none of the steel leaves Naruto. 

“If I’m only fighting to protect myself I might as well not fight at all,” Naruto replies hotly. “I don’t fight for myself, I fight for _you_. I fight to protect my friends, everyone who’s precious to me.” He looks back up at Kurama, sharp and fierce. “And for better or worse, you’re a part of my life, too. I’m not letting you go so easy. Definitely not to those Akatsuki creeps and _definitely_ not to some guy who controlled you against your will.”

Uchiha is looking at Naruto like he’s just dropped a stone and it’s flown up instead. For once, Kurama finds himself agreeing with the kid. 

Well. Enough sentimentality. 

Kurama lets a low growl roll through the space as he sweeps his tails around, settling himself lotus-style. Naruto looks at him expectantly, curiously. 

“Nineteen years ago,” Kurama rumbles, “Akatsuki’s masked man ripped me out of Kushina during childbirth. Those were Uchiha eyes, but not Madara’s.”

Stunned silence. Delicious. Kurama gives in to the urge to lick his chops. 

“ _Not_ Madara?”

“I would know Madara’s chakra anywhere,” Kurama says. _I see it reflected in you both_ , he doesn’t say, because neither of these humans would understand the weight and gravity and history of this fact, this legacy. “Whoever that man is, he is not Madara.”

“But it is the same person.” Uchiha is the first to recover. “The masked man from Akatsuki now, and the one who controlled you nineteen years ago.”

“Yes.”

After a beat, Naruto speaks. 

“So it really wasn’t your fault,” he says slowly. “The attack, when I was born.”

“What? No.” Kurama huffs, crosses his paws, and sinks to the floor, tails sweeping out in a fan.

“Guess that means we’ve all been played.” Naruto is looking up at him with a mix of pity and sadness and— oh, no, Kurama will have none of this. This isn’t a _bonding experience._

“I wouldn’t trust an Uchiha as far as I could throw them,” Kurama rumbles. “You shouldn’t, either.”

“Hey, Sasuke’s not so bad,” Naruto says immediately, defensively, and Kurama cackles out loud because it is _so_ easy to work these two up. 

“Alright, I’ll give you that,” Kurama amends, because this — all things considered — is an amendment he’s been meaning to make, a question he’s been meaning to ask. “On that note, not-so-bad Uchiha: when that snake forced me out, what did you do?”

Uchiha blinks in surprise. 

“I calmed you down.”

“I can tell. What did you _do?”_

Uchiha glances at Naruto before answering. 

“It’s the same thing that works on Jūgo,” he explains. “If I push, you’ll push back. Control can backfire on someone volatile, but telling the brain to remember a time of happiness, peace, calm— it’s simple, but it works.” Uchiha’s eyes are steady, unblinking, deep and luminous like night. 

“You don’t say,” Kurama muses. 

“On that note,” Uchiha echoes, “what did it mean when you told me my eyes were like Madara’s?”

“It means,” Kurama answers, “that I may have been mistaken.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is one of my favorite chapters to date – i really love kurama – and i hope y'all enjoyed it! :')


	21. xxi. nineteen months, one week, six days after the death of uchiha itachi

Their cool-down tonight – every night – is a light spar, nothing more than an unchoreographed back-and-forth of feather-light blows to let their muscles know it's time to rest. There’s no more thinking at this point, just muscle memory and instinct, dodge and weave. And then Naruto steps in, crouching to get below Sasuke’s center of gravity—

With a solid thump, Sasuke's back impacts with the dirt. He lies there, squinting thoughtfully up at Naruto, who's standing over him with his hands on his hips, staring off somewhere in the distance, deep in thought.

“If he's biding his time,” Sasuke asks, continuing a never-ending conversation, “what the hell is he waiting for?”

“That's the thing,” Naruto snaps, ire clearly not directed at Sasuke as he folds himself down into a sit. “The hell could he possibly be waiting for? It's not like he's got endless Zetsus crammed somewhere. They've gotta run out eventually.”

“But what if they _don't_ ,” Sasuke counters. “What if they're a symptom and not the disease?”

“Okay, _Sakura,_ explain what your fancy comparison means.”

Sasuke flicks him in between the ribs, just hard enough for Naruto to yelp and then glare. Sasuke smirks back.

“I mean, what if they're just a sign of something else? We have no idea what they even are, no one's been able to make any headway in figuring them out aside from they've got something similar to mokuton about them. It might not even be Madara making them. Maybe there's someone even higher up in the shadows.”

“You think?”

“Madara's a powerful fucker, but even power has its limits. And its costs.”

Naruto is quiet. Sasuke closes his eyes; he can hear the rustle of clothes and dirt and grass and moss as Naruto lies down with a sigh, and he directs his wandering thoughts firmly away from Madara and eyes and control.

He wonders how Karin is doing. Jūgo. Suigetsu. Sakura. Kakashi and Gaara. _Fuck_. The Hokage and the Kazekage. It still hasn’t sunk in yet. Not even Gaara being Kazekage, not really. Doubly– _triply_ so for Kakashi. He wonders how they are, though. Whether Sakura is exhausting herself, whether she’s the one healing or fighting. Whether Karin’s finally tossed in the towel and cut her hair since she’s been complaining about it being a bother for ages. What Suigetsu thinks of Samehada, how it fits him. (Personally, Sasuke likes the sight of Kubikiribōchō in his hands. There’s something reassuring about it. Enduring.) How Jūgo feels about traveling more, seeing more wildlife. Simply put: he misses them. And it’s still a revelation of a thought.

“What?” comes Naruto’s voice. It’s soft. Close.

“What?” Sasuke fires back, cracking one eye open. Naruto is next to him, head rolled to the side, brows furrowed.

“You’ve got your thinking face on.”

“I’m thinking about Taka. And Sakura.”

Naruto hums. He shifts somehow, in the weird way he has of bending physics, and his shoulder brushes against Sasuke’s even though they hadn’t been close enough to touch.

“You thinking about joining them?”

“No.” Sasuke opens both eyes, now, and gives in to the urge to turn his head. Naruto's brows straighten out. “Leave the island, and what, leave you alone with Bee?”

“Not _alone_ ,” Naruto says indignantly. “I'd have Bee and Eight-o.” He taps his stomach, even though the seal isn't visible there any more, no matter what he does. “And this guy.”

“I’m not leaving,” Sasuke says.

“I know. I’m glad you’re not.”

Sasuke really doesn’t know what to say to that, so he lets the silence stretch, comfortable in the dusky light filtering down through the trees.

 

* * *

 

Of course, Naruto’s the one who breaks it.

“Hey, I wanna try something.”

Naruto holds one hand up, bent at the elbow so it's jutting up like a sapling, fingers loose and half-curled.

“You want to hold hands?” Sasuke bites out, as if in self-defense. Maybe it is. His stomach lurches and soars at the concept.

“ _No_ , you asshole,” Naruto fires back, and his cheeks are pink. Well, that's a new development. Sasuke shoves the thought away. “I mean, the chakra thing. I think my chakra is different now, with the seal gone.”

“And?”

“You know, I wanna try again. Maybe we won't blow shit up this time. Or maybe it'll be worse.”

“I _like_ this training ground,” Sasuke grunts. “I don't feel like demolishing it.”

“Fine, sure,” Naruto says dismissively, wiggling his fingers, “but lemme try at least, like, the pulling thing. Or _you_ try. Yeah – that'd make more sense, since it's my chakra that's different.”

Sasuke looks at him. Naruto wiggles his fingers again, and raises his eyebrows expectantly.

“You could just ask normally,” he says, with no idea what's prompting him to say it, “if you want to hold hands.”

Naruto goes from pink to red, and works his jaw for a good bit of time before finally letting out a familiar, frustrated groan from behind clenched teeth. Sasuke smirks, just to watch the color rise a little more, and then holds up his own hand, curled into half the ram seal.

Maybe this is flirting. Or whatever the fuck passes as flirting for shinobi. Or for him. Or for Naruto. Sasuke doesn't know, and kind of really doesn't care. But Naruto's hand slides against his to make the other half of the seal, arms crossed where their wrists meet, and his hand is warm, pulse thumping steady and strong. If teasing Naruto gets him _this_ , he probably won't ever stop. What a realization to have, years into knowing a person.

“So?”

“Shh.”

Naruto scowls at him over their joined hands.

Sasuke doesn't react, but looks inwards, and calls. His chakra rises up easily, naturally, like breathing, and for a hair of a second he thinks it's not going to work.

And then the night explodes.

Figuratively.

Sasuke bolts upright, jerking his hand away from Naruto's and breaking the seal in the process.

“What did you–”

“What did _you?_ ”

Naruto sits up and grabs Sasuke’s hands. Both of them. Not in any kind of seal, just holding on.

“I'm trying,” he declares, and with no further warning Sasuke feels it again.

Like a supernova rising under his skin. Settling around him.

It's only slightly less of a shock this time. The yellow-gold chakra _flows_ , visibly, washing over Sasuke's skin in gentle waves as it radiates away from Naruto and casts light all around them.

Naruto's the one who breaks it this time, scrambling to his feet.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he says breathlessly. “I'm gonna try it like–” The Kyūbi's chakra explodes around him, unfurling like wings, bathing him in warm radiance that's halfway paradoxical, coming from a supposed font of evil. “Like this. I can _feel_ it. It's his, too, what I'm giving you.”

“Is that even possible?”

Naruto laughs brightly.

“Who cares? Gimme your hands.”

He does.

He’s already buzzing with adrenaline and the lingering bursts of chakra Naruto had given him, and Naruto firmly grabbing his hands – coated in the Kyūbi’s chakra, flames licking up to Sasuke’s wrists – does absolutely nothing to help.

“Okay,” Naruto says, and closes his eyes.

The wash of chakra becomes a churning wave, and then it becomes _heat_ , curling around him like a shroud. Or a mantle. Naruto opens his eyes, slowly, and then a smile spreads across his face.

He steps back. Sasuke opens his mouth to protest, and then Naruto's hands slip out of his. And the chakra stays.

“How?” Sasuke asks blankly, inspecting a hand. It's covered in that same bright chakra flickering around Naruto, and it's dancing across his skin, sinking into it and swirling back out. Sasuke pulls on a thread of chakra for the Sharingan, and it's Naruto's chakra that comes rushing forward instead, eager and bright and so, so powerful. It’s like a battery, he realizes – Naruto’s made himself into a fucking battery.

He takes a few steps back from Naruto, flexing his hand as the tingling refuses to stop, and calls up Susano-o. Just the ribs. It rushes up, just as eager, just as bright, and there are pale gold flames dancing through the bones, and Sasuke feels the energy that Naruto’s given him perfectly intertwined with his own chakra. It shouldn’t be possible, but it is. (As with too many things about Naruto.) He lets Susano-o drop, and Naruto’s chakra sinks back towards his skin, still warm.

“I dunno,” Naruto is saying excitedly, “I just kinda– pushed and pulled a bit, and, you know, if I can borrow chakra from the Kyūbi and kinda hold it, then I figured, probably you can too? So I—”

“Naruto,” Sasuke interrupts, halfway in a daze, “this is incredible.”

Naruto frowns.

“Yeah, but it’s not the thing we did last time,” he argues.

“I’m pretty sure this is much more significant,” Sasuke argues back. Naruto grabs his hands again, and pushes their fingers into a loose tiger seal. “Naruto—”

“C’mon,” Naruto says, low and fierce. “I know you won’t let anything happen to us if it goes– uh, explodey.”

Sasuke concedes the point with a sigh, because the only thing warmer than Naruto’s chakra right now is his hands.

“Fine,” he says, and walks Naruto’s hands through the array of seals necessary for Chidori. Alone, he doesn’t even need the seals anymore; it’s so familiar that the lightning comes at as soon as he calls it. Like this, he uses the seals to reinforce the pattern, to focus the energy that builds with every movement. He reaches the second to last seal, and stops.

The air is audibly humming, like a power line. He’s reasonably sure that if he and Naruto were to let go of each other without dismissing this chakra, they’d both eat the shock.

“Okay,” Naruto says, squirming a little, “maybe this isn’t a great idea. This is– wow, this is a lot of chakra.”

“ _Now_ you notice.”

“But _why?_ Is it a jinchūriki thing?” Naruto frowns, and shifts again. “Maybe you should try this with Bee.”

“I don't know,” Sasuke replies, noncommittally. “Either way—” He un-shapes the chakra and lets it flow away. “Let's figure it out another time.”

Naruto screws his face up into a pout, but his eyes still burn with satisfaction, and his hands are still warm.

 

* * *

 

“But would you?” Naruto mumbles from across the room.

“Would I what,” Sasuke mumbles back. He'd nearly been asleep.

“Hold my hand if I asked.”

Sasuke lets out his usual long-suffering sigh/scoff combination. Or at least, he tries to.

“Go to sleep.”

“Would you, though?”

“We've done it before,” he grunts. It comes out like a murmur. “Whatever.”

“Okay,” Naruto murmurs back, finally sounding content and sleepy, “good. 'Cause I would if you asked, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn't,” Sasuke lies gallantly, and his voice sounds strangled even to his own ears. “Go to sleep, you fucking loser.”

Naruto hums quietly, and then Sasuke turns over onto his other side and he's out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dumbasses pining is what gets me out of bed in the morning


	22. xxii. twenty months, three days after the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year! 3 chapters incoming here :)c

Sasuke closes his eyes.

The roar of the waterfall crashes over him, and he takes one deep, measured breath before opening his eyes again. That same dark shape approaches behind the sheet of water, distorted, and then walks through as if the water isn’t icy and vicious and impossibly heavy.

It’s him again. The same figure.

The instinctive knowledge that it’s not a clone or anything similar is what makes it so deeply unsettling. Without any doubt, Sasuke is looking at himself.

And like last time, this Other-Him looks Sasuke in the face, and lets the tears spill over from his eyes. _Un_ like last time, though, the Other-Him is smiling proudly.

“Look how far you’ve come,” the Other-Him says gently.

“Why are you– this?” Sasuke steps backwards, away from the Other-Him. “Naruto told me what he saw.”

“Some people lock darkness away in the deepest corners of their hearts, claiming they will never use it.” Other-Him wipes at the tears on his face, and the smile broadens, softens. “But _you_ locked _this_ away. You don’t know what this is? What I am?”

“No,” Sasuke replies, thoughts racing. 

“You wear your darkness on your sleeve,” Other-Him says. “What you locked away is your compassion.”

Sasuke feels like he’s been kicked in the chest.

“I know,” Other-Him says gently. “I know. But this is what makes you powerful.” 

“No,” Sasuke replies, automatic, firm.

“It is. You’ve denied it for so long, but it’s guided your actions anyways.”

“It hasn’t.” Sasuke fights back the childish urge to pace, to flex his hands. “It’s been nothing but anger and hate and– grief, and loss.” 

The pond and the waterfall flicker into a familiar reddish haze, swimming in chakra layered so deeply he can’t find a source. Whatever this waterfall is, it's certainly not some jutsu Bee invented. This is generations and eons of chakra collected, carefully worn into these falls. 

“Even now you're divorcing yourself from it,” Other-Him says. So gently. His voice isn’t supposed to sound like that. “The world doesn't run on logic and anger and grief. It can't. Neither can you.”

“There’s no place in my life for compassion,” Sasuke continues doggedly, and the old familiar mantras bubble up. “Just revenge.”

“Revenge is predicated by compassion.”

Sasuke feels all of his thoughts grind to a halt, barrelling into each other, and then he mentally sweeps the wreckage away. 

“I fight. I kill. There's no room for compassion in that.”

“You fight for what’s right.”

“No,” Sasuke says, bitterly, “I fight for what’s mine.”

“Are you trying to say that’s not right somehow?” 

Sasuke feels his thoughts freeze once again. Other-Him continues.

“You’re acting like there can’t possibly be any overlap between fighting for what’s right–” He tilts his head to punctuate the statement. “–and fighting for what’s _yours_.”

And that last word – there’s fire there, deep, smoldering, and Sasuke is suddenly very incredibly aware of everything that’s gone unspoken this conversation, intentionally or otherwise. 

“That doesn’t mean I make the right judgement call in– deciding what’s mine,” Sasuke finally replies, struggling to make sense of. This. “Historically. Bad judgement. I was never good at– I didn’t choose well, what to chase.”

Other-Him smiles a soft, heartbroken smile, and another tear slides down his face. He says nothing.

“Oh,” Sasuke says, after a pause.

It’s silent, save for the strange, muted roar of the waterfall. Sasuke takes a deep breath, and considers things. _Compassion_. In the end, it really has guided all of his actions, hasn’t it? Compassion is a motivator for revenge, in its own way. And grief, nonexistent without a connection, an understanding. The shock he felt – _feels_ – at learning the truth about Itachi. And more. And _more_. The pull towards Naruto when they were children. The decisions to take Karin and Jūgo and Suigetsu with him. 

Like a weight settling, he understands.

“Thank you,” Sasuke blurts out, stumbling over the words. 

Other-Him’s smile blooms, and he steps forward to place a gentle hand on top of Sasuke’s head, exactly the way his mother used to do it. And then the figure fades away, dissipating into mist, and Sasuke slowly blinks open dew-covered eyes to regard the empty, roaring waterfall.

It’s a good spot to think. He sits there and loses track of time, mulling over the encounter.

When Naruto steps out from behind the waterfall, winded and tired and scuffed-up but happy, he meets Sasuke’s eyes and surprise flashes across his face before a smile takes its place. Sasuke returns it.


	23. xxiii. twenty months, four weeks, six days after the death of uchiha itachi

There’s an explosion of chakra outside, red-tinged and searing hot, and it’s accompanied by a loud and heartfelt _**FUCK**_.

Sasuke is at the training ground in seconds flat, Sharingan active, heart racing, straining for any sign of just _what the hell is happening_ , when there’s another snap of hot chakra and Naruto stumbles forward out of thin air.

“ _YES_ ,” he bellows, punching the air, and Sasuke slams a palm into his chest, feeling the breath leave Naruto’s lungs as he collides with the ground. “Ow! What th—” 

“The _hell_ was that,” Sasuke snaps.

“Hiraishin,” Naruto says breathlessly, looking up at him with a grin. Sasuke removes his hand from Naruto’s chest and Naruto sits upright, grabbing Sasuke’s shoulders. “I _did it!_ Holy shit!”

“ _Did what_ ,” Sasuke snaps again, lowering his voice. “All I saw was the Kyūbi’s chakra everywhere and you gone.”

“Hiraishin,” Naruto repeats, still grinning, still holding on to Sasuke’s shoulders. “My mom taught me it. In theory, I mean. It’s a spacetime jutsu my dad was famous for. And I _did it_.”

Sasuke listens, attentive and disbelieving and maybe a bit proud, as Naruto details what his mother had told him about Hiraishin and how it works. It seems almost outlandish: a seal that never fades, instantaneous folding of spacetime, and yet it _works_. It's not perfect – Naruto is overusing chakra, hasn't quite figured out the right balance of his and the Kyūbi's for it – but Naruto's able to bounce between the kunai he's scattered around the training ground, handles wrapped with carefully drawn sealing papers. 

“—and it's not necessarily tied to the sealing papers,” Naruto continues. “It's like, the papers are part of it? But the way the seal works, it makes an anchor out of a _thing_ , not out of the paper itself. The paper's, you know, a transfer.” He pats his stomach. “There was a Hiraishin seal worked into the Kyūbi seal. Even though the Kyūbi seal is gone, the Hiraishin's still there.”

“How can you tell?” Sasuke asks, frowning. 

“Well, I can't,” Naruto replies sheepishly. “I'm taking my mom's word for it. Anyways, point is, the seal is tied to the essence of a thing. So if you put a seal on a house, but the house gets demolished, the seal will stop working. _But,_ if you put a seal on a person's, I dunno, on their arm, but then their arm gets cut off, the seal stays, 'cause the person still exists.”

Sasuke thinks. He doesn't know much about seals; frankly, he'd found himself more or less averse to the topic under Orochimaru's tutelage, and afterwards— well.

“Can it be used both ways?” Sasuke asks. “What are the restrictions? Something like this could be massively useful for scouts. Or for people who need protection. Daimyos, kages.”

Naruto makes a face. 

“Uh, not so much,” he replies. “I think I'm the only one who can… uh, provide enough chakra. You know. I mean, Bee might be able to, but it's supposedly a family thing? So really, I dunno.”

“So if you put a seal on me—”

“Sasuke,” Naruto interrupts, “that's for life.”

He's surprised, uncharacteristically serious. 

“I know,” Sasuke replies. 

“No, like—” Naruto gestures obliquely, sharply. “ _For life_. That's giving me license to find you wherever you are. Always. No exceptions. Ever.”

The silence stretches, heavy, and Sasuke refuses to look away from Naruto's eyes. The clouds on this island are ever-present, but this, Sasuke thinks, is as much of the sky as he's ever needed to see. 

“Theoretically,” Sasuke tries this time, as diplomatically as he can manage, “if I had a seal, _you_ would come to _me_. I couldn't go the other way. Right?”

“Right,” Naruto huffs out, and crosses his arms.

“Theoretically—” Sasuke takes a step closer. “If you swore to find me when you're in trouble and we're separated—”

“Sasuke. This ties me to you _for the rest of our lives_.”

Sasuke doesn't answer. Naruto doesn't need to hear that he's never thought of his lifespan as being a particularly long one. 

Not till recently, anyways. 

“My dad didn't use this on his team till the most dire emergency. He gave them kunai instead.”

“Kunai can be lost or destroyed.”

“He used this on _my mom_ and on me.” Naruto's cheeks are pink, now. Sasuke ignores this, and he ignores the heat rising in his own face. “Why are you so—?” He gestures again, wordless.

“Because I'm fighting to protect the people I care about.” 

“Sasuke—”

“And for whatever infernal reason, you're one of those people, you loser.” It doesn't work. The tension doesn't break. Instead, Naruto smiles, and the ache in Sasuke's chest triples. “If this can give you a window out of a situation, any kind of edge, big or small, then it's worth it. And if you swear to find me instead of going it alone—”

“Don't even start, asshole. _You're_ the one I should be saying that to.”

“Then do it.”

“It feels invasive.” Naruto crosses his arms, and Sasuke takes a moment to marvel at this side of Naruto. Half the time he’s obtuse to the point of insult, and yet there are moments like _this_ , where he shows more emotional sensitivity than Sasuke could ever conceive to be capable of himself. “I don’t want to… when you ran away from Konoha–” Sasuke clenches his jaw. “–I wanted to follow you. I _did_ follow you. And then we fought, and I lost, and you left. It was your _choice_ to leave. This, Hiraishin, it would let me just– totally negate any choices like that.”

“Naruto, the fact that you’re concerned for whatever honor or agency you think I have shows that you won’t do anything to endanger it,” Sasuke says, impatience adding an edge to his words. “Besides, I don’t want to leave.” 

“But– in the future, if you—”

“I don’t. I won’t.”

Sasuke sees it in Naruto’s face the minute it clicks for him, eyes widening and mouth slack.

“You mean it,” Naruto says, quiet. Serious.

Sasuke just moves Naruto’s hand until it’s resting over his sternum, fingertips warm where his shirt falls open, grazing the dip between his collarbones.

“I mean it,” Sasuke replies.

Naruto looks at him, and Sasuke has no way to quantify how long it lasts. But then Naruto closes his eyes and his fingers twitch as he gathers chakra, and with a warm itch it washes over Sasuke’s skin, curling into sealforms and kanji in precise sweeps.

When it’s done, Naruto opens his eyes, and he smiles.


	24. xxiv. twenty-one months, two weeks after the death of uchiha itachi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> winks

It happens like this: utterly without fanfare.

It’s neither surprising nor unexpected. Like breathing. Almost anticlimactic. Almost.

It happens like this:

Sasuke lets himself flop down unceremoniously next to Naruto.

For a while, all Sasuke can hear is his still-pounding heart, the heave of his lungs as he tries to catch his breath. Naruto is a warm presence at his side, shoulders and hips and thighs touching where they’re sprawled together. Sasuke is content to lie in a boneless heap as his sweat cools to ice and then heats with his body temperature again, slumped comfortably against Naruto, the gravity between them pulling them together.

This is the best part of any evening, Sasuke thinks: the quiet as they cool off from sparring and rest before turning in. It’s calm and it’s peaceful and— and Naruto’s eyes are on him, and there’s some dirt smudged on his cheek, and Sasuke loses track of his thoughts idly, lets them go like leaves drifting into water.

It’s slow, the way their mouths bump together, sparked by nothing in particular, almost as if on accident. But then one of them presses forward, and the other presses back, and Sasuke doesn’t know which one of them is which right now because his entire world is this: the gentle, unyielding pressure of this kiss, the warmth of Naruto’s shoulder against his own.

They pull away, barely, barely, just enough to meet each other’s eyes. But no— this is the opposite of what Sasuke wants, and he sees this echoed in Naruto’s eyes too, and he leans in to meet Naruto again, and when did their bodies get tangled together like this? Naruto runs a hand up into his hair and Sasuke lets out a sigh, tilts his head and presses closer, closer.

This is _good_ , is the only thought he can pull out of the soft, muted quiet in his head. It’s _good_. Naruto can’t keep still, like in most other things he does, and his hands move slowly through Sasuke’s hair, around to cup his face, down his chest, around his waist, back up into his hair, and Sasuke just— just gets his arms around Naruto as best he can and _holds_ , meets his bright kisses with patience, over and over, soft and lingering.

It takes significantly longer to head back inside after training, this time.

 

* * *

 

“Do you ever think about if things were different?”

“Like… different how?”

Sasuke runs his fingertips over the back of Naruto’s hand.

“Like, if you hadn’t been there, I probably would have believed Madara outright. I don’t… I think I would have been capable of awful things.”

“Still woulda chased you,” Naruto murmurs in reply. “Always. I know I can smack sense into you.” Sasuke feels Naruto smile against the curve of his neck, and he weaves his fingers between Naruto’s. “I would chase you to the ends of the earth and back.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re you,” Naruto answers, easily, without hesitation, thumb running in slow circles over Sasuke’s hand. “Because you’re my friend, and because—” Naruto stops short, and Sasuke can picture the frown drawing his brows together. “Um, because… well, you know.”

Naruto shifts and Sasuke settles into an even more comfortable spot against him, the rise and fall of his lungs a comfortable press against his back.

“I know,” he replies. Naruto’s always been better at talking, even when he’s at a loss for words. And Sasuke’s always been better at reading between the lines. Really, he thinks, just one of the ways in which this works.

Earlier, Sasuke had been so full of pure _energy_ that he thought he’d explode. The universe had narrowed to one single spot with every single sensation focused through it like a faucet rattling under too much pressure and with every word, every _look_ , Sasuke had been sure he’d disintegrate on the spot. But now, though, it’s settled into something comfortable under his skin: a comfortable weight, familiar, like his blade ready to be drawn.

“Sometimes I wonder—” Naruto pauses, breath warm on Sasuke’s skin. “Not to, like… I dunno. I really love my friends, you know? But with you, it's different.” A short, self-conscious laugh ghosts across Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke tilts his head back, and lets his forehead rest against the pulse point in Naruto's neck. “I don’t even know how to explain it. But this, and the whole _everything_ , and you, and _this—_ ” Naruto inhales deeply, squeezes Sasuke, and then exhales and flops back onto the bed. “I don’t even wanna think about thinking about it.”

“Oh?” Sasuke twists around to look down at Naruto, sprawled out on his back. Naruto jerks back upright, face pink.

“I didn’t mean—” Sasuke raises his eyebrows. Naruto’s indignant frown and flush both grow. “Not like that!” He swats at Sasuke’s arm. “I’m always thinking about you.”

Sasuke attempts a teasing smirk and misses it by miles. Naruto’s hand settles on his side, warm and broad.

“You’ve always thought too much of me.”

“I’d like to think it’s just enough,” Naruto grumbles, and pulls Sasuke down by the back of his shirt.

Sasuke disagrees, but he kisses Naruto anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starting the new year off right, wink wink
> 
> anyways! the changes to tumblr's policies finally spurred me into making a dreamwidth, which i intend to use as a writing journal. you can find me there as [sword-logic](https://sword-logic.dreamwidth.org/), and the timeline for this fic is [also on dw as well](https://sword-logic.dreamwidth.org/678.html)!

**Author's Note:**

> huge thank you to kei for looking over this for me!
> 
> edit: i've put up a running timeline [over here](https://basiacat.tumblr.com/post/175564811399/so-i-found-out-about-this-timeline-of-nart-which) in case anyone's curious!  
> edit 2: timeline is [up on dreamwidth](https://sword-logic.dreamwidth.org/950.html) as well!


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